Do we contribute to society?

Introduction

How does one contribute to society? At one level this is an extremely philosophical question and at another it's a practical tangible one. Major breathroughs in science, technology and the arts are obvious contributions but there are much more 'mundane' ones related to the work field which nearly everyone is involved in.

We all contribute to society in our own ways since we are living human beings. Our existence in society is a contribution to it, because we consume from its resources and/or contribute to towards them, expanding them, making them work and benefit our existence.

From a practical point of view we may contribute to society in many ways. Of the most important lies our labor and our working life, part of the work cycle related to industry in occupying jobs and occupations for the production of very important and peripheral goods and commodities for the supposed greater good of society.

Through industry and workforce, we produce for the wealth of societies around different corners of the globe. Our contributions involve the myriad of occupations that exist in the economies. In industry working as unskilled, skilled, blue-collar workers which has historically served the pillars of industry.

And then as economies developed so did the working categories and occupations, and started to expand and revolve around what can basically be called white collar workers. At first sociologists limited this section to clerical and administrative and secretarial workers.

But today this section has been inflated. It includes professional workers, managerial classes, doctors, teachers and engineers and many more. They as well contribute to the machinery of society, the nuts and bolts that keep it going on a daily basis. And all these must inevitably involve wealth creations and development.

Ours has become a complicated and detailed social, political and economic formation with newer occupations, skills, jobs expanding into greater areas of the economy. Today for instance most economies are characterized by their knowledge-based status where internet technology and communications have come to play a central role.

Information technology is today the big hit. The knowledge-based economy is indeed a vast set of fields that include, education, science, technology, internet-based information systems, security systems, media and communications and other fields.

And within that there are divisions, sub-divisions, strata and more, that at one level made the division of labor so minute and at another 'mutli-layered', connecting different fields so they overlap.

And hence many occupations, sub-occupations, technical professions and so forth have come to exists within the domain of one field. Computers and telecommunication-based industries are a very good example where the occupational division has come to be fractured and multiplied at the same time.

It would be useless for me to make a listings of the occupations because of their highly technical nature but take the internet. There are the providers, content developers, internet designers, web designers and this is just the tip of the iceberg.

This is the nature of work today as a manifestation of the economies we live in. Since they are manned by ordinary people like you and me, we are major sources of contributions and development to many of the fields in the state, economy and society.