Marginal Occupation Research Articles

A generalization of Rapp's formula

AbstractThe Rapp formula of teletraffic dimensioning is generalized to admit an arbitrary renewal stream of offered traffic. The derivation proceeds from a heavy traffic approximation and provides also an estimate of the order of error involved in the Rapp formula. In principle, the method could be used to seek convenient higher order approximations.Our equations give an incidental theoretical substantiation of an empirical result relating to marginal occupancy found recently by Potter.

Marginal or Mainstream: Two Studies of Contemporary Chiropractic

Abstract Since an initial flurry of sociological interest in chiropractors in the 1950's, there have been few additional studies published. The first studies established a theme for the sociology of chiropractic –- marginal occupation –- which has been carried through most of the subsequent years. A recent rediscovery of chiropractic by sociologists has opened the area up for new investigations. The studies reported in this paper seek to answer two questions: (1) what are some contemporary attributes of chiropractic as a profession and chiropractors as health care providers? (2) how accurate is it to continue describing chiropractic as marginal medicine? The evidence marshalled here questions the merits of continuing to see chiropractic as marginal in the same ways as it was in the 1950's. However, chiropractic lacks some attributes which would permit its acceptance as a mainstream health care system.

The American Working Class: Prospects for the 1980s.

The study of continuities and discon-tinuties in American working-class life represents a central concern in the literature on stratification and equality. This book, based on a 1975 Ford Foundation conference and updated to take into account the most recent developments, offers a sobering appraisal of the American working class, revealing the continuing gap between organized and unorganized workers despite the huge increase in the work force; the emergence of subclass structures between factory workers at one end and workers engaged in marginal occupations at the other; and the durability of pluralistic, multiclass politics within this large and amorphous working class. The volume is unique for several reasons: it focuses directly on the role of women in the labor force, ethnic and racial divisions within the working class, and the place of organized labor in international affairs. The American Working CJass Today offers a penetrating and wide-ranging examination by leading social and political researchers of a range of problems -- from how data are collected and manipulated to what the future holds for American workers. Contents and Contributors: THE THEORY OF AN AMERICAN WORKING CLASS John H.M. Laslett, S.M. Miller, Martha Bush, Irving Louis Horowitz CLEAVAGES AND CHANGES WITHIN THE WORKING CLASS Edna Bonacich, Gabriel Kolko, Edna E. Raphael. Robert Bibb, Martin Oppenheimer, Frank Riessman, John C. Leggett THE WORKING CLASS IN AN INTERNATIONAL CONTEXT Henry Berger. William H. Form, Helen Icken Safa, Elizabeth Jelin

The University Labor Educator: A Marginal Occupation

The University Labor Educator: A Marginal Occupation

The University Labor Educator: A Marginal Occupation

View of the university labor educator as a semiprofessional who acts as a bridge between the worlds of higher education and organized labor but is not fully accepted in either. Data from a survey of individuals listed in the 1976 directory of the University and College Labor Education Association; Determinants of the status of the university labor educator; Changes in labor extension education. (Abstract copyright EBSCO.)

The Professional Poker Player: Career Identification and the Problem of Respectability

This study examines how the career-professional poker player, one type in a deviant occupational group, adapts to outside labeling and stereotyping. Career-pros exhibit strong occupational identification, and consequently place great importance on the appearance of respectability. Career identification is discussed in terms of three factors: (1) the interest in professional skills; (2) ideological and moral concerns; and (3) the reliance on group support. The presentation of respectability, a denial of inaccurate stereotypes, is a defensive mode of adaptation for those in marginal occupations. I collected data over a two year period from the poker players in the cardrooms of Gardena, California.

The Druggists' Dilemma: Problems of a Marginal Occupation

Pharmacy, a marginal occupation between business and profession and currently undergoing major economic and technological changes, creates identification problems for its traines. Findings based on a questionnaire given to a group of pharmacy students suggest a general pattern of conflict avoidance, idealizing both small business protected from competition and medical careers. Comparison with Hatt-North data indicate greater prestrige given to medical-scientific occupations than the latter elicit from the general population. Evidently, socioeconomic status determines whether business or professional orientation will give the profession its character.