Comparative Analysis Using Large Scale National Data Sources of Women's Employment

Abstract

This paper considers two main questions. First, how do the various theoretical frameworks for carrying out comparative research help us to gain a better understanding of the role women are playing in the labour markets of advanced industrial economies and are some better suited than others for this task? Secondly, we ask whether research practice can lead to better theorising on comparative research. The paper discusses the usefulness of various theoretical frameworks through the experience of using a number of cross-national data sets including a European Science Foundation network of Household Panel Studies and a number of two-country cross-sectional comparative studies. The paper argues that there may be things which can be learnt from engaging in the process of doing comparative research which are relevant to theorising about such research, and which are to some extent independent of the theoretical approach taken up at the outset. Cross-National Research, Cross-cultural Research, Comparability, Women's Labour Market Behaviour.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Banton, M. (1983) Racial and Ethnic Competition, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.

Becker, G. (1986) ‘The Economic Approach to Human Behaviour’ in Elster, J. (ed) Rational Choice, Oxford, Basil Blackwell.

Bertaux, D. (1990) ‘Oral History Approaches to an International Social Movement’ in Oyen, E. (ed) Comparative Methodology: Theory and Practice in International Social Research, London, Sage.

Blumer, H. (1969) Symbolic interactionism: perspective and method, Englewood Cliffs. N.J. Prentice-Hall.

Crow, G. (1989) The Use of the Concept of “Strategy” in Recent Sociological Literature', Sociology, Vol.23 No.1 pp. 1–24.

Dex, S. and Shaw, L.B. (1986) British and American Women at Work, London, Macmillan.

Dex, S. and Smith, N. (1990) The Labour Force Behaviour of Married Women in Denmark and Britain: A Comparative Study', University of Aarhus Centre for Labour Economics Discussion Paper.

Dex, S. and Walters, P. (1992) ‘Franco-British Comparisons of Women's Labour Supply and the Effects of Social Policies’, Oxford Economic Papers, 44, pp. 89–112.

Elster, J. (ed) (1986) Rational Choice, Oxford, Basil Blackwell.

10.

Goffman, E. (1969) The presentation of self in everyday life. London, Allen Lane.

11.

Hantrais, L. (1990) Managing Professional and Family Life, Aldershot. Dartmouth.

12.

Heath, A. (1986) Rational choice and social exchange, Cambridge. Cambridge University Press.

13.

Hechter, M. (ed) (1983) The Microfoundations of Macro Sociology, Philadelphia, Temple University Press.

14.

Higgins, J. (1986) ‘Comparative Social Policy’, The Quarterly Journal of Social Affairs. Vol.2 No.3 pp.221–242.

15.

Kerr, C. (1973) Industrialism and Industrial Man, 2nd edition. London, Pelican Books.

16.

Kohn, M.L. (1987) ‘Cross-National Research as an Analytic Strategy’, American Journal of Sociology. Vol.52 pp.713–731

17.

Kohn, M.L. (ed) (1989) Cross National Research in Sociology, Newbury Park, Ca., Sage.

18.

Maurice, M. (1977) “Theoretical and Ideological Aspects of Universalism in the Study of Work Organisations' in Haug, M. R. (ed) Work and Technology, London, Sage.

19.

Maurice. M., Sorge, A. and Warner, M. (1980) Societal Differences in Organising Manufacturing Units: A Comparison of France, West Germany, and Great Britain' Organization Studies, Vol.1, No.1 pp.59–86.

20.

Maurice, M. , Sellier, F. and Silvestre, J. (1982) The Social Foundations of Industrial Power, Cam., Mass., MIT Press.

21.

Sztompka, P (1988) ‘Conceptual Frameworks in Comparative Inquiry: Divergent or Convergent?’ International Sociology, Vol.3 No.2 pp.207–218.

22.

Trigg, R. (1980) Reality at Risk: A Defense of Realism in Philosophy, Brighton, Harvester Press.

23.

Tversky, A. and Kahneman, D. (1986) ‘The Framing of Decisions and the Psychology of Choice’ in Elster, J. (ed) Rational Choice, Oxford, Basil Blackwell.

24.

Verba, S. and Rokkan, S. (1969) Comparative Survey Analysis, The Hague, Mouton & Co.

25.

Wilson, B. R. (ed) (1986) Rationality, Oxford, Basil Blackwell.