Interpreting and predicting the social world requires assumptions about human tendencies. Empirical validation of such premises, however, is not available. They are, essentially, beliefs held by the observer. Most important, perceptions of the sources and types of effective social control hinge on conceptions of human nature. This is awkward for the sociology of work because quite starkly divergent analytical consequences can result. This article describes two contrasting sets of assumptions: the optimistic and the pessimistic. A towering representative of the former perspective is Karl Marx, and of the latter, Sigmund Freud. The perspectives are then applied to Kai Erikson's recent essay on alienation to illustrate the different conclusions that one might draw by substituting one cluster of assumptions for the other. The results suggest that the sociology of work would be better served if our writing and teaching explicitly stated the conjectures that guide research and inference.
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