lieview of Tlpvieus. 1/12/13. 



1007 



OCCUPATION AND MENTALITY. 



THE RESULT OF MONOTONY. 



A German publicist, Adolf Leven- 

 stein, has devoted many years to a sys- 

 tematic and ingeniously planned study 

 of the influence exerted on man's soul 

 life by modern industrial conditions — 

 or rather, by the transformation of the 

 old-time " artisan " to a modern " opera- 

 tive." It is the presence of machinery, 

 mterposed between the workman and 

 the raw material, that counts for most 

 to-day. 



Before he engaged in his momentous 

 undertaking, Mr. Levenstein was for 

 years in constant communication with 

 workmen of different trades, whom he 

 received as guests in his own home for 

 the purpose of arousing in them an in- 

 terest in self-development. What struck 

 him very soon was the sharp division of 

 those he met into two classes ; one men- 

 tally alert and clear, the other mentally 

 sluggish and vague. And a very little 

 questioning brought him face to face 

 with the inevitable conclusion that the 

 latter class of workers were occupied in 

 some very monotonous trade, while the 

 former vere blessed with a work de- 

 manding attention and offering variety. 



When he began the systematic in- 

 quiry, of which the results were pub- 

 lished at Munich in 191 2 — the collection 

 and preliminary arrangement of the 

 material having occupied five years — he 

 turned to certain occupational and geo- 

 graphical groups of workers, whom he 

 regarded as representative. They were 

 the coal miners of the Ruhr and .Saar 

 districts and in Silesia ; the textile 

 workers of Berlin and Forst ; and the 

 metal workers of Berlin, .Solingen and 

 Oberstein. He prepared a " question- 

 naire " carefully covering the field he 

 wanted to mvestigate, and this he dis- 

 tributed gradually, and with great diffi- 

 culty, to 8000 workmen. Much of the 

 difficulty encountered came from the 

 bitter resistance offered by trade unions 



and trade publications — why, is very 

 hard to tell. 



But in the end Mr. Levenstein ob- 

 tained 5040 answers, representing 63 per 

 cent, of the number of " questionnaires " 

 sent out. This first success was fol- 

 lowed up by correspondence between 

 Mr. Levenstein and a great number of 

 workmen —he wrote in all 4846 letters 

 while carrying out this part of his 

 scheme. The results, as published by 

 him and as summarised in a recent num- 

 ber of "Nordisk Tidskrift" (Stock- 

 holm), constitute, on one side, a serious 

 arraignment of modern industrial 

 methods, and, on the other, a very en- 

 couraging evidence of the cultural possi- 

 bilities lying dormant within the labour- 

 ing classes. 



After a series of preliminary ques- 

 tions as to name, age, numbers of work- 

 ing years, occupation, and so forth, the 

 first question aiming straight at the 

 heart of the inquiry was whether the 

 workmen found it possible to think of 

 other things while at work. Among the 

 coal miners and metal workers 25 per 

 cent, declared outright that they had 

 to give their whole atteiition to the 

 work, not so much because the work de- 

 manded it. as because the work pre- 

 vented them from thinking connectedly 

 of anything else. Many complained 

 that the noises and unpleasant condi- 

 tions connected with their toil influenced 

 their whole beings. " A coarse work 

 makes the spirit coarse," wrote one. 



Among the textile workers, on the 

 other hand, only 15 per cent, found their 

 entire attention demanded by the work, 

 and in general their answers indicated 

 greater mental freedom — although this 

 was balanced by another set of detri- 

 mental effects. For while their work 

 could be handled mechanically without 

 danger, it was also the most monotonous 

 of all the kinds investigated. A most 



