The New Occupational Structure

Abstract

In this article I argue that changes in the structure of occupational life over the last half-century have outmoded the classical agenda of questions about occupations and the division of labor. I propose some new questions about this new occupational structure. The first concerns how different types of divisions of labor are established and why those different types are arrayed as they are in the current work world. The second concerns whether occupations in fact have any effective existence in that world. The third involves a critique of both our cultural construction of work and its uncritical acceptance by social scientists. The fourth issue concerns the co-optation of consumers as members of the division of labor. The fifth concerns the intricate modern relation of division of labor, occupation, organization, and such staffing institutions as the educational system.