Patterns of Work Identification

Abstract

This paper examines ways in which the concept of work identification may provide a useful means of delineating the boundaries of occupational groups. This concept is based on the view that the sociological utility of the concept occupation lies in its subjective meaning for participants in their sense of corporate belonging, rather than in 'objective', arbitrarily drawn boundaries. Two kinds of identification are discussed-identification with employing organizations and identification with occupation. The paper, which results from research into work orientations of data processing staff, describes distinctive patterns of identification found among systems analysts and among computer programmers. These distinctions are used as the empirical basis on which subsequent discussion is built.