This article provides a critical analysis of recent sociological research on labor markets. Efforts by sociologists to provide structural explanations of earnings inequality that counter human capital theory have been hampered by methodological problems associated with inadequate model specification and the inappropriate use of variance as a criterion for theoretical importance. Moreover, the structural effects observed in recent studies do not have an unambiguous interpretation; they are consistent with three different mechanisms: differences in demand, internal labor market effects, and class effects. Future work in this area needs to pay greater attention to the links between theoretical interpretations and empirical analyses.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
ARROW, K.
(1973) “Higher education as a filter.”J. of Public Economics2: 192-216.
2.
AVERITT, R. T.
(1968) The Dual Economy: The Dynamics of American Industry Structure. New York: Norton.
3.
BARON, J. N.
and W. T. BIELBY (1980) “Bringing the firms back in: stratification, segmentation, and the organization of work.”Amer. Soc. Rev.45: 737-765.
4.
BECK, E. M.
, P. M. HORAN, and C. M. TOLBERT II (1980) “Social stratification in industrial society: further evidence for a structural alternative (reply to Hauser).”Amer. Soc. Rev.45: 712-719.
5.
BECK, E. M.
, P. M. HORAN, and C. M. TOLBERT II (1978) “Stratification in a dual economy: a sectoral model of earnings determination.”Amer. Soc. Rev.43: 704-720.
6.
BECKER, G. S.
(1975) Human Capital. New York: Columbia Univ. Press.
7.
BERG, I.
(1981) “Introduction,” in I. Berg (ed.) Sociological Perspectives on the Labor Market. New York: Academic Press.
8.
BIBB, R.
and W. H. FORM (1977) “The effects of industrial, occupational, and sex stratification on wages in blue-collar markets.”Social Forces55: 974-986.
9.
CAIN, G. G.
(1976) “The challenge of segmented labor market theories to orthodox theory.”J. of Economic Literature14: 1215-1257.
10.
DOERINGER, P. B.
and M. PIORE (1971) Internal Labor Markets and Manpower Analysis. Lexington, MA: D. C. Heath.
11.
EDWARDS, R. C.
(1979) Contested Terrain. New York: Basic Books.
12.
FREEMAN, R. B.
and J. L. MEDOFF (1981) “The impact of collective bargaining: illusion or reality?” in J. Stieber, R. B. McKensie, and D. Q. Mills (eds.) U.S. Industrial Relations 1950-1980: A Critical Assessment.
13.
GRANNOVETTER, M.
(1981) “Toward a sociological theory of income differences,” in I. Berg (ed.), Sociological Perspectives on the Labor Market. New York: Academic Press.
14.
HALABY, C. N.
(1978) “Bureaucratic promotion criteria.”Admin. Sci. Q.23: 466-484.
15.
HAUSER, R. M.
(1980) “On `Stratification in a dual economy',”Amer. Soc. Rev.45: 702-712.
16.
HODSON, R. D.
(1978) “Labor in the monopoly, competitive and state sectors of production.”Politics and Society8: 429-480.
17.
HODSON, R. D.
and R. KAUFMAN (1981) “Circularity in the dual economy (comment on Tolbert et al.).”Amer. J. of Sociology86: 881-887.
18.
KALLEBERG, A. L.
and L. J. GRIFFIN (1980) “Class, occupation and inequality in job rewards.”Amer. J. of Sociology85: 731-768.
19.
KALLEBERG, A. L.
and A. B. SØRENSEN (1979) “The sociology of labor markets.”Annual Rev. of Sociology5: 351-379.
20.
KALLEBERG, A. L.
, M. WALLACE, and R. P. ALTHAUSER (1981) “Economic segmentation, worker power and income inequality.”Amer. J. of Sociology87: 651-683.
21.
MINCER, J.
(1974) Schooling Experience and Earnings. New York: National Bureau of Economic Research.
22.
O'CONNOR, J.
(1973) The Fiscal Crisis of the State. New York: St. Martin's.
23.
ROSEN, S.
(1977) “Human capital: a survey of empirical results,” in R. G. Ehrenberg (ed.) Research in Labor Economics. New York: JAI Press.
24.
ROSENBAUM, J. E.
(1979) “Organizational career mobility: promotion chances in a corporation during periods of growth and contraction.”Amer. J. of Sociology85: 21-48.
25.
SØRENSEN, A. B.
, (1977) “The structure of inequality and the process of attainment,”Amer. Soc. Rev.40: 456-471.
26.
SØRENSEN, A. B.
(1975) “A model for occupational careers,”Amer. J. of Sociology80: 44-57.
27.
SØRENSEN, A. B.
and A. L. KALLEBERG (1981) “Outline of a theory for the matching of persons to jobs,” in I. Berg (ed.) Sociological Perspectives on the Labor Market. New York: Academic Press.
28.
SØRENSEN, A. B.
and N. B. TUMA (1981) “Labor market structures and job mobility,” in D. J. Treiman and R. V. Robinson (eds.) Research in Social Stratification and Mobility. New York: JAI Press.
29.
SPENCE, A. M.
(1974) Market Signaling. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univ. Press.
30.
SPILERMAN, S.
(1977) “Careers, labor market structure, and socio-economic achievement.”Amer. J. of Sociology85: 551-593.
31.
STOLZENBERG, R. M.
(1978) “Bringing the boss back in: employer size, employee schooling, and socioeconomic achievement.”Amer. Soc. Rev.43: 813-828.
32.
STONE, K.
(1975) “The organization of job structures in the steel industry,” in R. C. Edwards, M. Reich, and D. Gordon (eds.) Labor Market Segmentation. Lexington, MA: D. C. Heath.
33.
THUROW, L. C.
(1975) Generating Inequality. New York: Basic Books.
34.
TOLBERT, C.
, P. M. HORAN and E. M. BECK (1980) “The structure of economic segmentation: a dual economy approach,”Amer. J. of Sociology85: 1095-1116.
35.
TUMA, N. B.
, M. HANNAN and L. GROENEVELD (1979) “Dynamic analysis of event histories.”Amer. J. of Sociology84: 820-854.
36.
WALLACE, M.
and A. KALLEBERG (1981) “Economic organization of firms and labor market consequences: toward a specification of dual economy theory,” in I. Berg (ed.) Sociological Perspectives on the Labor Market. New York: Academic Press.
37.
WHITE, H. C.
(1970) Chains of Opportunity: System Models of Mobility in Organizations. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univ. Press.
38.
WILLIAMSON, O. E.
(1975) Markets and Hierarchies: Analysis and Antitrust Implications. New York: Free Press.
39.
WRIGHT, E. O.
(1979) Class Structure and Income Determination. New York: Academic Press.
