Indeterminacy in Occupational Recruitment: The Case of Prison Assistant Governors

Abstract

The view that indeterminate factors affecting occupational recruitment can be ignored in sociological analysis is challenged by the case of the assistant governor in the Prison Service, an occupation in which such factors appear to play a significant part in the recruitment process. Not only do many recruits make spontaneous decisions to apply for the post, without any previous knowledge of the occupation, owing to its social obscurity, but selection is also problematic as a result of the ambiguity and controversy that has historically surrounded the role. Consequently, recruits were decidedly heterogeneous in many social, demographic and attitudinal respects.