SOCI 312: Assignment 2

Directions: Answer the following questions in full sentences and in your own
words. You may either do so for two articles OR two chapters from the
book. This assignment is worth 10% of your final grade and is due on
Tuesday, April 12th in class.
Summary # 1
Article/Book Citation:
Lane, C. M. (2011). A Company of One. In A Company of One: Insecurity, Independence, and the New World of
White-Collar Unemployment. Ithaca, NY: ILR Press.

1. What are the authors objectives?

To show the increasing habituation to the new more volatile and less
secure labor markets. Moreover, to show how this unprecedented
situation increasingly requires that employees act as if they were a
company of one, looking for their best interest. In this instance, loyalty
and job security are obsolete concepts. Even more surprisingly, many
employees agree with the idea that this shift is ultimately beneficial to
them.
2. What types of evidence does the author draw on to support
their objectives?
The author uses citations from interviews previously held. The
interviews are from people in slightly different situations or from
different backgrounds that have experienced layoffs.
3. What does the author conclude from their evidence?
The author concludes that in the end, job seekers truly believe in the
career management ideology, as opposed to just being a posture. This
statement, as the author explains, relies on the fact that selfrepresentations remained consistent over time. Furthermore, job
seekers said that acting as a company of one is the only way to ensure
employability, and consequently, income security.
4. Do you think the evidence supports the conclusions?
The evidence presented does support the conclusions drawn by the
author in most cases. However, it seems ambiguous sometimes since
some of the interviewed job seekers admitted having accepted
government aid, as well as agreeing that implementing government
policies could help increase equality in some labor markets.

5. Locate a paragraph in the text where the author summarizes

their main argument (please indicate the page number below).
Paraphrase their argument in no more than two sentences.
Pg. 90. The author states that as more and more volatile labor markets
seem to become the norm, job seekers have come to follow a new
ideology to ensure employability. This guideline is referred in the book
as career management or operating as a company of one.

Summary # 2
Article/Book Citation:
Lane, C. M. (2011). The Hardest Job You'll Ever Have. In A Company of One: Insecurity, Independence, and the
New World of White-Collar Unemployment. Ithaca, NY: ILR Press.

1. What are the authors objectives?

To show that regardless of job seekers describing themselves as CEOs
of their own company of one, they still experience discouragement and
depression during periods of unemployment. As well as how common
job search strategies such as online jobs networking can deeply
damage unemployed workers sense of self-worth.
2. What types of evidence does the author draw on to support
their objectives?
As in the second chapter, the author keeps bringing up citations from
interviews made to workers (some of the interviewees are the same
from the previous chapter). In this citation, job seekers explain how
they feel and how they handle their current or previous unemployment
periods. Moreover, the author presents data from the average
unemployment periods for several different years.
3. What does the author conclude from their evidence?
Ultimately, the author argues that despite job seekers picturing
themselves as habituated to constantly switching jobs, they tend to
feel greatly isolated and discouraged when looking for jobs during
unemployment. This, as the author states, is highly attributable to the
fact that following career management guidelines, job seekers sell
themselves to employers rather than just applying to job openings.
Furthermore, Lane concludes that job seekers are desperate to find
something that can make them feel useful, or at least more profitable
during this painful transitions between jobs.
4. Do you think the evidence supports the conclusions?
The evidence presented is very supporting of the conclusions. One of
the main reasons why is how the interviewees range through a variety
of ages. This supports the argument that, unlike how they picture
themselves, modern job seekers struggle during periods of
unemployment just like job seekers from decades ago did.
Furthermore, some of the arguments are supported by showing that
the average unemployment period had not decreased, but instead it
had more than doubled in the last four decades.

5. Locate a paragraph in the text where the author summarizes

their main argument (please indicate the page number below).
Paraphrase their argument in no more than two sentences.
Pg. 143. The author clearly says that marketing oneself as a company,
as job seekers argue they do, inevitably causes deep harm in ones
self-esteem when no one shows their interest for them. This effect also
increases when the situation continues during long periods of time.
Accordingly, this shows one of the main drawbacks of career
management as a job searching strategy.