Don Clairmont

Segmented labour markets and the estimation of wage functions

This paper uses a stratified random sample of private sector employees to estimate wage equations for both the male labour market as a whole and six ‘segments’ of the labour market, segement which are defined with respect to the industry and size characteristics of the employing establishmen. Highly conventional results are obtained when wage equations are estimated for the male labour market as a whole, or within two segements, comprising almost half the survey population. However, one can reject conclusively the hypothesis that the same estimating equation is appropriate for modelling wage determination in all segments and if a ‘human capital’ (HK) model is, within segements, tested against more appropriate alternative hypotheses for wage determination using the Davidson and Mackinnon (1981) methodology for the testing of non-nested hypotheses, the conclusion is that one should reject the HK specification and not reject the alternative. It is therefore argued that the disaggregation of labour market dat...

Using the Victim Role as Both Sword and Shield The Interactional Dynamics of Restorative Justice Sessions

Recently, criminal justice professionals have advocated restorative justice as an alternative to traditional punitive practices. Extant research has not examined the strategic interpersonal dynamics between victims, offenders, supporters, and facilitators during restorative justice sessions. Our ethnographic study addresses this gap. Building on studies of emotion in reintegrative shaming, we explore how shaming emotions are dramaturgically mediated by the rhetorical use of victim roles. We suggest that this micropolitical shame management facilitates apparently meaningful outcomes, undermines them, or results in agreements based more on realpolitik than reintegration. Our data are derived from detailed field notes at 28 youth restorative justice sessions in a mid-sized Canadian city. Our findings reveal a different picture than the frequently idealized images of restorative justice, thus underscoring the need for further analysis in this important area of criminal justice.

The segmentation perspective as a middle-range conceptualization in sociology

This paper is an examination of the segmentation perspective which recently has be- come popular in sociology and economics. It discusses the contemporary roots of segmentation theory, empirically and ideologically, and identifies the central tenets underlying its diverse speci- fications. In characterizing the theory as a middle-range conceptualization, attention is drawn to both the connection to the sociological classics and the alternative research directions. Four cen- tral issues are seen as keys to the perspectives further development: level of operationalization, specification of segments, intersegment mobility, and generalizability.

Economic Segmentation and Politics

Recent research, most of it American, has demonstrated the importance of segmentation theory for explanations of a wide array of social and economic phenomena. This paper attempts to extend this theoretical perspective by examining some of its implications for political orientations and relationships. As many segmentations proponents are aware, conventional liberal and Marxist theories have systematically underestimated the persistence of heterogeneous political structures and processes in advanced capitalist societies. Data gathered in the Maritime Providences in Canada show that at both the establishment and the worker level there are distinctive political effects attributable to location in particular economic segments. The increasing range of segmentation theory raises important questions for our dominant paradigms.