Occupational Community Research Articles

The Occupational Community of East Anglian Fishermen: An Historical Dimension Through Oral Evidence

This article presents some qualitative evidence for the social perceptions of the East Anglian fishermen. It is an attempt to assess their attitudes to the social structure and to look at one empirical historical community to see to what extent it conforms to the sociological concept of occupational community. It concentrates on the decade and a half from the turn of the century to the outbreak of the First World War. This period is chosen for two reasons: it is as far back into the 'historical dimension' as one can go and still find a substantial number of respondents from one occupational group or community; the period also has an economic unity in that it was a period of continuous prosperity and expansion in the herring fishing industry. In their accounts of their early life and experiences, the respondents show an unexpectedly low perception of class divisions, a sense of class conflict is virtually absent and expressions of industrial or occupational discontent are rare. This evidence conflicts with the popular view of the fishermen as a 'traditional proletarian occupational community', membership of which fosters a dichotomous conflict image of society, wider class affiliations and industrio-political radicalism. The impressions of the respondents stand in such sharp distinction to the record of industrial conflict amongst fishermen on the Humber prior to the First World Warl that the structure of the East Anglian industry and the evidence on social perceptions both deserve some comment, for I will argue that the reported social perceptions are not the result of the respondents seeing their early life as part of 'the good old days' in which social conflict is forgotten or suppressed, but that these perceptions can be seen as arising realistically out of the industrial and community situation of that generation. To this end the article will start with a brief comment on the nature of the evidence used, and also on the structure of the fishing industry in East Anglia. In an article in Oral History,2 Paul Thompson, through reference to various studies on memory, shows that memories of an event fade very quickly within days-but after that the 'memory' stabilizes and there is very little to be gained by interviewing people about the recent past as opposed to the distant past. It can be argued that the oral history

Community and Occupation: An Exploration of Work/Leisure Relationships.

Preface Introduction: some themes and issues from the classics: the theoretical background 2. The components and determinants of occupational communities 3. A review of some accounts of some accounts of occupational communities 4. The determinants of the occupational communities of architects and railwaymen 5. The occupational communities of architects and railwaymen 6. Conclusions and summary Bibliography Index.

Some Concomitants of Maritime Employment: The Longshore Case

The longshoremen of Portland, Oregon, and their families form an occupational community in a medium-sized city on the North-west Pacific Coast of the United States. They are tightly bound into the economic structure and institutions of the nation and the world for their occupation, and the industry of which it is a part is a function of international trade. However, unlike many other workers in modern industrial nations, their way of life is not sheltered from the vagaries of the weather and the sea, but rather is rendered uncertain by these natural forces. In this way, they are very like farmers, and in many ways they react to their problems much as farmers do. The purpose of this paper is to point up some of the consequences of seeking a livelihood in a maritime occupation.

Graduation: What Happens to the Retarded Child When He Grows Up?

Interviews were held with parents or guardians of 120 graduates of classes for the moderately (trainable) retarded in a large southern California metropolitan school district in the years 1968, 1969, and 1970. Information was gathered to assess the quality of community life experienced by these moderately retarded adults after graduation from school. Recommendation is made for (a) new criteria for evaluation of community adjustment of the moderately retarded which emphasizes comprehensive postschool programing to meet the recreational and social needs of the retarded as well as to provide occupational and vocational training and (b) community based residential facilities to provide such programing as an alternative to the parent care model and the permanent parent-child relationship it reinforces.

Two Occupational Communities: Examples of a Remarkable Convergence of Work and Non-Work

Two Occupational Communities: Examples of a Remarkable Convergence of Work and Non-Work

Some Sociological Determinants of Occupational Communities

Some Sociological Determinants of Occupational Communities

The Malayan Bureaucracy and its Occupational Communities: a Comment on James de Vere Allen's ‘Malayan Civil Service 1874–1941’

Few sociologists would quarrel with Dr. Allen's use of the term bureaucracy in his analysis of the Malayan colonial government. Nor could one argue that he has failed to come to grips with certain central sociological issues in the analysis of bureaucracies. On the contrary, Dr. Allen has given us an excellent case study that illuminates some of the dynamics of the bureaucratic processes.

The Location of the Proletarian and Deferential Worker

three types : deferential, proletarian and privatized. He defines each type in terms of a distinctive occupational culture, community situation, reference group and life style. The deferential worker is employed in small scale or service industry, interacts with the boss on a face-to-face basis, and accepts as legitimate the distinctions of both the occupational and local status hierarchy . Socially he is relatively isolated from other workers, and tends to political conservatism. The proletarian worker is employed in traditional heavy industries and interacts with large numbers of other workers through formal and informal groups. Social distance between worker and employer is great, and the sense of 'us' and 'them' engenders a perception of worker employer relationships as one of power and conflict. The trade union is an expression of solidarity, and not merely an instrument to achieve individual economic goals. Local communities with solidary traditions and limited cultural horizons reinforce the tendency for the reference groups to be working class. The privatized worker lacks occupational and community ties of the solid working class kind. Both job and trade unions are viewed instrumentally3 rather than as sources of solidary relationships. The community is generally a lower-median income private or council estate in which traditional kinship systems and reference groups are missing. People are evaluated by what they possess and the privatized worker has what Lockwood calls a 'pecuniary image of society'. The three categories above are ideal types, and not many areas conform in community and occupational structure to only one type. To test Lockwood's typology, and to produce a range of urban sociological comparisons, we thought it necessary to isolate towns in which the social characteristics appropriate to deferential, proletarian and privatized workers apply in a relatively unmixed form.

Ideology and Occupational Community: A Study of Compositors

This study is concerned with a neglected dimension in the discussions over the process of embourgeoisement: the role of the occupation itself. One occupational group, that of the compositor, is selected for investigation; the compositor, because of his income, expendite patterns and other behavioural norms would appear to be just the kind of worker undergoing embourgeoisement; yet the compositor's ideology, in terms of class and political affiliations, is more radical than that found amongst the skilled working class in general. One partial explanation for this is suggested: the occupational community. The existence of a powerful occupational community is demonstrated and some measure is made of its influence on the ideology of its members. By implying that wide occupational differences exist within a similar class category, the importance of further occupational studies is emphasized.

On the Personal Consequences of Alienation in Work

The consequences of alienation in work (i.e., engagement in work which is not intrinsically rewarding) are examined, using a random sample of the male work force in a Swedish community. The consequences are those commonly attributed to work alienation by critics of modern industrial society: intergroup hostility, anomia, political withdrawal, status seeking, and a sense of powerlessness. The notion that alienated labor eventuates in such outcomes receives little support here; the evidence suggests that this failure to confirm the generalization hypothesis is not attributable to methodological difficulties. The influence of social factors crucial to mass society theory (e.g., membership in an occupational community or in a work organization) is examined and found to be minimal. Finally, an alienated (extrinsic) orientation toward work is also unrelated to such variables as ethnic hostility, political engagement and powerlessness. The significance of these negative findings for images of work in contemporary society is discussed. T HE radical criticism of industrial society, from Marx to the moderns,' has centered its attack on alienation in work. The concern for alienated labor is perhaps the central theme in the literature on the mass society, a literature in which the craftsman's control over the work process and his

Age and the Ministry: Consequences for Minister-Parishioner and Minister-Minister Relations

firm, are functionally-specific rather than diffuse. Functional specificity in formal organizations is based on the ability of limited work-related performance criteria to serve as guidelines for actions and interpersonal relations. But, as many studies have shown, nonwork criteria often become important. Among members of small work teams, this leads to friendships and, often, subversion of the organization's formal work rules. In other instances, non-work criteria can lead to discrimination against minority groups, as it does in many areas. There are many sources of diffuseness, and there are also many diverse consequences. The purpose of the present paper is to suggest how one non-work criterion, age, can affect the ability of one kind of service worker, the minister, to perform adequately in his occupational roles. Since the minister provides services to individual parishioners and since he also is charged with directing the business affairs of the church organization, the intrusion of non-work criteria into one set of relations can, if they spill over into other sets of relations, have accumulative negative consequences for the minister. A complete consideration of the meaning of age would have to analyze how age affects the minister's other role relations: the way he relates to his denominational superiors, to his colleagues, and to those outside the church. In short, the potential consequences of age-based behavior are wide-reaching. For the relative ages of potential role partners can affect the creation, structuring, and termination of inter-personal relations. In occupational terms, age can have crucial significance for the way a person performs his occupational duties, the way he relates to his "occupational community," and, the career pattern he follows. The ministry is an excellent locus for the study of the significance of age. This is because the universalistic ideology of Christian religion seems to argue that all men should be treated equally, regardless of variations in their social position. Also, ordination and clerical garb provide a minister with credentials which are supposed to take primacy in determining the minister's relations with his clients. That

Command, Control, and Charisma: Reflections on Police Bureaucracy

This paper examines several features of American police systems that account for some variation and change in command structures and the personal charisma of the chief. Ways that the bureaucratization of the police have served to commit officers to an occupational organization, to an occupational community, and to norms of subordination and service in such a way that these commitments take precedence over extra-occupational ones are also examined. The significance of status honor and occupational prestige for the American police is discussed in this context.

Rates of Mental Hospitalization: A Study of Societal Reaction to Deviant Behavior

dividual's sense of personal control is a factor in determining the level of interest and the degree of knowledge he will possess concerning his affairs. In the arena, for example, Lipset, Trow, and Coleman, have demonstrated the significance of the occupational community in the printers' unions.2' They have shown that active membership in the printers' clubs was associated with increased knowledge concerning party positions within the union. What this has to do, hypothetically, with alienation in the sense of personal control is nicely suggested by Kornhauser's remarks about such work associations:

Determinants of Occupational Community in High Status Occupations

A FREQUENT FOCUS of both contemporary social criticism and sociological analysis is upon the subtle interplay between work and leisure. One of the pervading themes in these polemics stems from a consideration of the differential changes in the length of the work week for various occupational strata and the consequent projection to a future which will involve more leisure for the masses and more work--or at least a continuation of strenuous work-for