Angela Dale

Integrating Women into Class Theory

A theoretical framework is proposed by which women as well as men may be included in class theory, and a methodology is suggested by which one aspect of womens class location, their relationship to the labour market, may be measured. It is argued that social class in a Weberian sense may be seen as comprising two distinct although related dimensions. Firstly, that based upon relationship to the labour market, measured at the level of the individual; and second, that represented by patterns of consumption (in terms of goods and services), measured at the level of the family. All those with a direct relationship to the labour market may be allocated to an occupational class position, irrespective of position within the family. Data from the General Household Survey are used to produce a preliminary occupational class schema for women which does not depend upon assumptions of skill or the manual/non-manual nature of the work.

Social Class and the Self-Employed

The self-employed are characterised in the sociological literature as owning their own means of production and having considerable self-direction and autonomy within the work process. However, social survey and official statistics usually use arbitrary definitions, based upon method of payment of National Insurance or income tax, by which to define self-employment among those with no paid employees. Recent work, particularly by Hakim, makes it apparent that many of those officially designated as self-employed do not possess their the autonomy within the workplace or the productive capacity usually attributed to them by sociologists.

Occupational Inequality, Gender and Life-Cycle

This paper uses theories of labour market segmentation to analyse occupational inequalities based upon gender and life-cycle. It is argued that the labour market forms the arena where negotiation over occupational position takes place but that the bargaining power which men and women bring to the labour market depends not only upon experience and qualifications but also upon the conditions under which labour is supplied. The paper explores the way in which supply conditions, as well as demand factors, are important in segmenting the labour market and the way in which these act to the disadvantage of women during the course of family formation.

The Household Structure of the Elderly Population in Britain

This paper uses nationally representative data from the General Household Survey for 1980 to investigate the household structure of the elderly in Britain. Household structure is analysed in terms of its relationship to the marital status age gender and physical disability of the elderly person. The results indicate that 79 percent of the elderly live alone or with their spouse only and 95 percent of the noninstitutionalized elderly retain their own households. (EXCERPT)

Older Workers and the Peripheral Workforce: The Erosion of Gender Differences

At a time when the proportion of full-time permanent jobs is decreasing and there is evidence of a growth in ‘peripheral’ forms of work, it is important to review the position of older workers, both men and women. Using data from the Labour Force Survey of 1984, it is shown that, while the employment rate falls sharply in the ten-year period prior to state retirement age, it is only those of post-retirement age who are disproportionately represented in peripheral forms of work. It is suggested that some ‘peripheral’ forms of work allow greater flexibility in age of retirement than permanent full-time jobs. While there are clear gender differences among those of pre-retirement age, with a higher proportion of women than men in peripheral jobs, there is a marked erosion of these gender differences amongst men and women who work beyond state retirement age.

Labor Market Structure in the United Kingdom: Evidence from Occupational Mobility

Occupational mobility data from the United Kingdom is used to operationalize a typology of labor markets, derived from the work of Althauser and Kalleberg, based upon occupation, rather than firm or industry. It is shown that not only are there distinct differences in access to firm internal labor markets and occupational labor markets based upon occupation, but also differences between men and women and full- and part-time workers. Within the same occupation, there is some evidence for the existence of separate labor markets for men and women, and for full-time and part-time workers. Part-time employees are less likely than full-timers to gain access to internal labor markets and are thereby disadvantaged during times of economic recession.

The General Household Survey as a Source for Secondary Analysis

In contrast to the importance placed on secondary analysis by researchers in other disciplines, British sociologists have long neglected the rich data available from large scale government surveys, perhaps because of technical obstacles. This report describes work to make the General Household Survey (GHS) data more easily accessible for sociological analysis, summarizes the contents and structure of the GHS and reviews the arrangements which have been made to allow researchers access to it.

Access to social science data in schools

Abstract One likely consequence of recent developments in information technology is the greater availability to the public of the social data routinely collected by government agencies. It is argued that educators must anticipate these developments, which have implications for what is taught in schools and for methods of teaching. As an instance of the increasing accessibility of such data, work on making the General Household Survey data more widely available is described. The data are currently being used in teaching the social sciences to undergraduates, and will shortly also become available for use on microcomputers in schools.