This study investigates the upward mobility of low-paid workers. It uses an approach that generates clear and simple statistics which help describe inequality by race and sex. Merging the three one-in-a-hundred samples from the 1970 Census, it first defines a “low-paid stratum” and a “mainstream” stratum. These categories are then used to determine rates of advancement for groups defined by sex, race, and industrial sector. A model of the probability of upward mobility is fitted to the data, and it is used to adjust the rates of advancement for differences in age, education, and particular low-paid occupations. Both the actual and the adjusted rates of advancement show that sex is highly consequential and that race is also important. In addition, a low-paid worker's likelihood of moving up is dependent on his or her specific occupation. The core/periphery industrial distinction is found to be an important determinant of the mobility chances of black men.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
BaronJ. N.BielbyW. T.1980“Bringing the firms back in: Stratification, segmentation, and the organization of work”. Amer. Soc. Rev.45: 737–765
2.
BeckE. M.HoranP. M.TolbertC.M.II1978“Stratification in a dual economy: A sectoral model of earnings determination,”Amer. Soc. Rev.43: 704–720
3.
BeckE. M.HoranP. M.TolbertC.M.II1980“Industrial segmentation and labor market discrimination”. Social Problems28: 113–130
4.
BergI.1971Education and Jobs. Boston: Beacon
5.
BergmannB. R.DarityW.Jr.1980“Social relations in the workplace and employer discrimination,” pp. 155–162 in Industrial Relations Research Association Series: Proceedings of the Thirty-Third Annual Meeting
6.
BibbR.FormW. H.1977“The effects of industrial, occupational, and sex stratification on wages in the blue-collar markets”. Social Forces55: 974–996
7.
BlauP. M.DuncanO. D.1967The American Occupational Structure. New York: John Wiley
8.
BridgesW. P.1980“Industrial marginality and female employment: A new appraisal”. Amer. Soc. Rev.45: 58–75
9.
CainG. G.1976“The challenge of segmented labor market theories to orthodox theory: A survey”. J. of Economic Literature14: 1215–1257
10.
ColemanR. P.RainwaterL.1978Social Standing in America: New Dimensions of Class. New York: Basic Books
11.
CollinsR.1979The Credential Society. New York: Academic
12.
DaymontT. N.KaufmanR. L.1979“Measuring industrial variation in racial discrimination using log-linear models”. Social Sci. Research8: 41–62
FreedmanM.1976Labor Markets: Segments and Shelters. Montclair, NJ: Allanheld, Osmun & Co
17.
GarfinkleS. H.1975“Occupations of women and blacks, 1962–1974”. Monthly Labor Rev.98: 25–35
18.
GoodmanL. A.1975“The relationship between modified and usual multiple-regression approaches to the analysis of dichotomous variables,” pp. 83–110 in HeiseD. (ed.) Sociological Methodology 1976. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass
19.
GordonD. M.EdwardsR.ReichM.1982Segmented Work, Divided Workers. New York: Cambridge Univ. Press
20.
GranovetterM. S.1981“Toward a sociological theory of income differences,” pp. 11–47 in BergIvar (ed.) Sociological Perspectives on Labor Markets. New York: Academic
21.
HauserR. M.1980“On ‘Stratification in a dual economy’”. Amer. Soc. Rev.45: 702–711
22.
HauserR. M.FeathermanD. L.1977The Process of Stratification: Trends and Analyses. New York: Academic
23.
HodsonR.KaufmanR. L.1982“Economic dualism: A critical review”. Amer. Soc. Rev.47: 727–739
24.
JencksC.1979Who Gets Ahead? The Determinants of Economic Success in America. New York: Basic Books
25.
KallebergA. L.SørensenA. B.1979“The sociology of labor markets”. Annual Rev. of Sociology5: 351–379
26.
KaufmanR. L.DaymontT. N.1981“Racial discrimination and the social organization of industries”. Social Sci. Research10: 225–255
27.
KaufmanR. L.SpilermanS.1982“The age structures of occupations and jobs”. Amer. J. of Sociology87: 827–851
28.
KluegelJ. R.1978“The causes and cost of racial exclusion from job authority”. Amer. Soc. Rev.43: 285–301
29.
KohnM. L.1969Class and Conformity: A Study in Values. Homewood, IL: Dorsey
30.
KohnM. L.SchoolerC.1973“Occupational experience and psychological functioning: An assessment of reciprocal effects”. Amer. Soc. Rev.38: 97–118
31.
LeighD. E.1978An Analysis of the Determinants of Occupational Upgrading. New York: Academic
32.
LiebowE.1967Tally's Corner: A Study of Negro Streetcorner Men. Boston: Little, Brown
33.
McClendonM. J.1976“The occupational status attainment processes of males and females”. Amer. Soc. Rev.41: 52–64
34.
OkunA. M.1973“Upward mobility in a high-pressure economy”. Brookings Papers on Economic Activity1: 207–252
35.
OstermanP.1975“An empirical study of labor market segmentation”. Industrial and Labor Relations Rev.28: 508–521
PioreM. J.1970“Jobs and training,” pp. 53–83 in BeerS.BaringerK. (eds.) The State and the Poor. Cambridge, MA: Winthrop
38.
PomerM. I.1981Intragenerational Occupation Mobility in the United States: A Segmentation Perspective. Gainesville, FL: Univ. Press of Florida
39.
PomerM. I.1983a“Segmentation approaches to inequality in the labor market”. Humanity and Society7: 262–271
40.
PomerM. I.1983b“Mobility of women into the economic mainstream”. J. of Business Ethics2: 185–189
41.
PomerM. I.1984“Demystifying loglinear analysis: Four ways to assess interaction in a 2 × 2 × 2 table. Soc. Perspectives27 (January): 111–135
42.
RosenbergS.1980“Male occupational standing and the dual labor market”. Industrial Relations19: 34–49
43.
RosenfeldR. A.1980“Race and sex differences in career dynamics”. Amer. Soc. Rev.45: 583–609
44.
RosenfeldR. A.SørensenA. B.1979“Sex differences in patterns of career mobility”. Demography16: 89–104
45.
ScovilleJ. G.1969The Job Content of the U.S. Economy, 1940–1970. New York: McGraw-Hill
46.
SewellW. H.HauserR. M.WolfW. C.1980“Sex, schooling, and occupational status”. Amer. J. of Sociology86: 551–583
47.
SlomczynskiK.MillerJ.KohnM. L.1981“Stratification, work, and values: A Polish-United States Comparison”. Amer. Soc. Rev.46: 720–744
48.
SørensenA. B.TumaN. B.1981“Labor market structures and job mobility,” pp. 67–94 in TreimanD. J.RobinsonR. V. (eds.) Research in Social Stratification and Mobility (Vol. 1). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press
49.
SpilermanS.1977“Careers, labor market structure, and socioeconomic achievement”. Amer. J. of Sociology83: 551–593
50.
StolzenbergR. M.1975“Occupations, labor markets and the process of wage attainment”. Amer. Soc. Rev.40: 645–665
51.
TolbertC. M.II1982“Industrial segmentation and men's career mobility,”Amer. Soc. Rev.47: 457–477
52.
TolbertC. M.IIHoranP.M.BeckE. M.1980“The structure of economic segmentation: A dual economy approach”. Amer. J. of Sociology85: 1095–1116
53.
TreimanD. J.TerrellK.1975“Sex and the process of status attainment: A comparison of working women and men”. Amer. Soc. Rev.40: 174–200
54.
TumaN. B.1976“Rewards, resources, and the rate of mobility: A nonstationary multivariate stochastic model”. Amer. Soc. Rev.41: 338–360
55.
U.S. Bureau of the Census1972Public Use Samples of Basic Records From the 1970 Census: Description and Technical Documentation. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office
56.
U.S. Bureau of the Census1973Census of the Population: 1970 Subject Reports, Occupational Characteristics, Final Report PC(2)-7A. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office
57.
WachterM.1974“Primary and secondary labor markets: A critique of the dual approach”. Brookings Papers on Economic Activity3: 637–693
58.
WolfW. C.FligsteinN. D.1979“Sex and authority in the workplace: The causes of sexual inequality”. Amer. Soc. Rev.44: 235–252
