Mistakes at Work

Abstract

In his essay «Mistakes at Work» (1951) Everett Cherrington Hughes considers mis takes and failures at work as a necessary component of any occupation or profession that affects upon its functioning in a wider social setting. Viewing this theme in the light of comparative study of occupations, the author shows that a division of labour presup poses a delegating of mistakes and risks by laymen to professional men and specialists. This delegating allows for laymen to maintain assurance in situations with which they are not able to handle themselves. In turn, different occupations have their own strate gies of protecting themselves against conviction in error or mistake and against their rec ognizing by laymen itself. Hughes discusses three such strategies which he defines as art, cult and ritual.