Work and Occupations

Occupations and British Wage Inequality, 1970s-2000s

by Mark Williams

(forthcoming) European Sociological Review

Occupations provide a central unit of analysis for economic inequality in stratification research for two main... more Occupations provide a central unit of analysis for economic inequality in stratification research for two main reasons. First, occupations are supposed to structure inequality. Second, occupations are supposed to proxy as a source of inequality. Although there was a ‘massive rise’ in British wage inequality, relatively little is known about the relationship between the occupations and growing British wage inequality, and the sparse empirical research is inconclusive. Since sociologists traditionally have tended to place a great deal of emphasis on occupations, we might expect the changing structure of occupations and changing occupational wages to play a key role in accounting for trends in overall British wage inequality. More recent strands of stratification theory, however, have challenged the idea that occupations structure economic inequalities, and argue that the link between occupations and wages might have been weakening over time, instead predicting that growing wage inequality mostly occurs within occupations. We decompose trends in British wage inequality into between-occupation and within-occupation components and show that, although most wage inequality is within occupations, it is inequality between occupations that accounts for the lion’s share of changes in wage inequality trends. Furthermore, trends in between-occupation inequality cannot be ‘explained away’ by fundamental labour market changes such as rising educational attainment and the decline in collective bargaining. We also demonstrate what the rise in between-occupation inequality implies for the British ‘big class’ structure using the NS-SEC social class schema. We show that growing between-occupation inequality can be more or less described as growing between-class inequality.

Tamas Keller, Robert Peter - Structural Components of Lifestyle and Beyond - The Case of Hungary

by TARKI Social Research Institute

Studies of Transition States and Societies
Vol 3 / Issue 1

This paper deals with the question of when and how lifestyle and its components are important in social... more This paper deals with the question of when and how lifestyle and its components are important in social stratification. There is considerable consensus among scholars about the structure of the society being a consequence of hierarchical dimensions like occupation, income, or wealth.

Farmers, farm workers and work-related stress

by Jane Parry

Parry, J., Barnes, H., Lindsey R. & Taylor, R. (2005), HSE Research Report 362.

This research explores the ways in which stress affects farming communities, how this has changed in recent years, and... more This research explores the ways in which stress affects farming communities, how this has changed in recent years, and the degree to which work-related aspects of stress may be assuaged by support interventions. A qualitative case study research approach was employed to address these issues, involving 60 interviews in five locations across England and Wales.

In examining farming stress, a distinction is made between its intrinsic, extrinsic and workrelated dimensions. While
interviewees tended to associate day-to-day worries and acute stress with farming’s intrinsic demands (such as disease and adverse weather conditions), external causes of tension (such as competition and regulation), together with worries about finances and family, were associated with more sustained anxieties. By contrast, work-related aspects of farming stress, such as workload issues and farming practices, involved a combination of physical and mental health effects.

Notably, work-related and extrinsic dimensions of stress have increased in recent years in relation to organisational and
policy shifts, price fluctuations, mounting paperwork demands, workload intensification, and changes in agricultural regulation. These have prompted an escalation in the aspects of their work that farming communities feel powerless to control, and represent a major area for policy intervention.

Principal farmers displayed the most visible manifestations of stress, linked at once to the intrinsic, extrinsic and workrelated dimensions of their work. By contrast, family farm workers and labourers often lacked autonomy over the way they worked, and work-related aspects of stress concerning workload and organisation made up a greater part of their experience.
Increased paperwork demands emerged as a major cause of stress among interviewees, particularly for farmers and their wives, who struggled to balance these with traditional farming priorities. Differences between farms were also influential in explaining stress. Livestock farming embodied intrinsic pressures relating to stock crises and the unpredictability of animals, but more recently has come under intense economic pressure, prompting a rationalisation of working practices. Arable farmers found the organisation of activities, such as harvesting and planting, in a context of reduced and increasingly contractual workforces particularly challenging. Mixed farmers faced the dual stresses of balancing work activities with conflicting timetables, and the paperwork demands of a complex portfolio of farming.
Smaller farms were struggled with intensified workloads, while larger enterprises had to comply with the demands of more
inspection regimes.

Support agencies need to overcome the stigma attached to asking for help among farming communities and offer a range
of responsive and proactive services. Locally based support was more likely to be used and trusted, although concerns about client confidentiality might deter those most in need from seeking help. Where existing local networks were established, there was a strong argument for providers to plug into these and work towards publicising their efforts to ensure that support is provided most effectively. Critically, support must be multidimensional, reflecting the wide range of stressors and their impacts among farming communities.

The changing meaning of work: restructuring in the former coalmining communities of the South Wales Valleys

by Jane Parry

Work, Employment and Society, 17 (2): 227-246

This article examines how industrial restructuring has effected social transformation in terms of the type and meaning... more This article examines how industrial restructuring has effected social transformation in terms of the type and meaning of work in the post-closure context of the South Wales Valleys. A conceptual framework is developed which considers a range of experiences within and outside the paid labour market. This theorizes social movement and stasis, and analyses the resources and priorities invoked in pursuing different types of work. Restructuring has weakened occupation's role as a primary means of social cohesion in former coalmining communities, and labour market experiences have become more diffuse and dynamic. It is argued that while paid work remains important to some individuals, this overlooks the experiences of those excluded from or constrained in their economic activity. In order to understand these social solidarities it is necessary to employ less restrictive definitions of work, and examine the meaningful labour embedded in a more interconnected set of relationships and structures.

WORK STRESS SCALE FOR CORRECTIONAL OFFICERS

by Mithat Durak

Work Overload
2. Insufficient division of labor in the work place
3. Work overload
6. Having to control... more Work Overload
2. Insufficient division of labor in the work place
3. Work overload
6. Having to control prisoners’ inappropriate behaviors
26. Being inspected by various committees in the work place
29. Night shifts leading to additional workload
35. Excessive responsibilities of my position


Role Conflict and Role Ambiguity
4. Intentions of the personnel’s, prisoners’, and visitors’ breaking down the rules of prison
9. The prison managers’ ignorance of the needs and ideas of the personnel
11. Being held responsible for someone else’s misconduct at work
14. Not being able to work in the area that I’m proficient in
15. Prisoners, visitors, and lawyers not agreeing with the correctional officers’ body search
19. Arbitrary decisions and frequent changes of decision
21. Ambiguity of instructions at
22. Not being able to declare my opinions anywhere work
27. Managers’ differences in their attitudes and behaviors towards prisoners
31. Obstruction of performing my routine work by the commands of the prison authorities


Inadequacies in Physical Conditions of Prison
7. Insufficiency of the working environment to meet such needs as drinking, eating, etc
24. Insufficiency of the physical conditions (e.g. ventilation, lightening, heating) in the work place
25. Feeling myself as a prisoner
34. Insufficient communication means (e.g. TV, radio) in the work place


Threat Perception
8. The risk of being threatened particularly due to my position
12. Being involved in arguments and fights with prisoners
16. Fearing crime report about myself
18. Being under suspicion on a misconduct
23. Having to be cautious all the time at work
30. In the community, my job is referred to as “key keeper” rather than “prison guard” (implying the applications of harsh discipline)
32. Encountering unusual events (e.g. run away, rebellion, fire) in the work place


General Problems
1. Economic problems
5. Not being able to participate in social activities (e.g. sports, reading, cinema) due to my work
10. Not having enough quality time with family due to my work
13. Having health problems due to my work
17. Ignoring the needs of my family due to my work
20. Reflecting my work problems on my family
28. Transportation problems when commuting to and from my work
33. Having insufficient time with my friends and relatives due to my work



Reference

Şenol-Durak, Emre, Durak, Mithat, & Gençöz, Tülin. (2006). Development of work stress scale for correctional officers. Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation, 16(1), 153-164. doi: 10.1007/s10926-005-9006-z

Taxi Drivers

by William Westerman

In Encyclopedia of American Folklife, edited by Simon J. Bronner.

Recursos y estrategias de orientación para la inserción laboral

by Núria Pérez-Escoda

The Loughborough Occupational Impact of Sleep Scale (LOISS): A New Instrument for Research and Clinical Practice

by Erica Kucharczyk

Published in Behavioral Sleep Medicine (2011)

Despite the emphasis placed on occupational impairment as a consequence of most sleep disorders, there is currently no... more Despite the emphasis placed on occupational impairment as a consequence of most sleep disorders, there is currently no standardized measure for quantifying the occupational impact of sleep quality at the individual level. Using existing scales, a comprehensive literature review, and focus groups to generate items, as well as psychometric analyses to reduce items, these analyses describe the development of a scale to assess workplace performance in relation to sleep quality. In a survey of 222 employees aged 20 to 64 years, the resulting 19-item instrument (the Loughborough Occupational Impact of Sleep Scale [LOISS]) showed satisfactory levels of reliability, effective discrimination between “good” and “poor” sleepers, and an interpretable 2-factor structure. LOISS provides a practical tool for population screening and clinical assessment.

Predictors of self-reported burnout in nurses: work-related vs. individual factors in the European longitudinal Nurses' Early Exit-Study (NEXT). Comparing national differences and multivariate models.

by Juliane Hardt

Hardt J, Galatsch M, Schmidt SG, Müller BH. Predictors of self-reported burnout in nurses: work-related vs. individual factors in the European longitudinal Nurses' Early Exit-Study (NEXT). Comparing national differences and multivariate models. Mainz//2011. 56. Jahrestagung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Medizinische Informatik, Biometrie und Epidemiologie (gmds), 6. Jahrestagung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Epidemiologie (DGEpi). Mainz, 26.-29.09.2011. Düsseldorf: German Medical Science GMS Publishing House; 2011. Doc11gmds268 (11gmds268). DOI: 10.3205/11gmds268, URN: urn:nbn:de:0183-11gmds2681

Background: The demographic changes in Europe cause an increasing need of qualified nursing staff. Therefore, it is... more Background: The demographic changes in Europe cause an increasing need of qualified nursing staff. Therefore, it is important to develop concepts for maintaining a high work ability and motivation of the nursing workforce based on risk factor models. Previous results from the NEXT study have indicated that the individual risk of burnout is an important prognostic factor of the intention to leave nursing [1], [2]. The aim of this analysis was to investigate the associations of sociodemographic, individual and work-related factors with burnout measures one year later among nurses in Europe using questionnaire data of a longitudinal study.

Method: Longitudinal data of 8877 qualified nurses and nursing aids in Germany (n=1639), Finland (n=2335), Italy (n=2314), the Netherlands (n=952), Poland (n=1223) and Slovakia (n=414) from the NEXT study were available for analyses [3]. The questionnaire comprised sociodemographic and institutional factors, nine work-related factors as well as individual factors (overcommitment [4], positive and negative affectivity [5]) that may be associated with burnout. The subjective extent of burnout symptoms was assessed with the scale "personal burnout" (Copenhagen Burnout Inventory [6], [7] at baseline and at one-year follow-up. Uni- and multivariate linear regression analyses were applied to analyze four models of factor groups with increasing model complexity in comparison of the 6 countries.

Results: Differences in the reported extent of individual and work-related indicators and differences between the prediction models of the six countries were remarkable. Mean levels of burnout measures were lowest in Dutch nurses who also reported better social support, and lower levels of work-family conflict, individual overcommitment and negative affectivity. A model optimizing strategy (stepwise method) with four consecutive linear regression models was applied. Sociodemographic and institutional factors had no effects (R²corr:.004-.051). Individual factors showed substantial effects for five of the six countries (∆R²corr:.115-.251;MD=.172); in contrast to work-related factors (∆R²corr:-.008-.029;MD=.034). When the models were adjusted for burnout level in the first year, model-fit indices again slightly increased (∆R²corr:.075-.202;MD=.180). Models were best predictive for the German and least predictive for the Polish sample.

Discussion: Our results show individual factors to be important predictors for burnout scores of nurses one year later. These findings were supported by the literature of burnout research [8], [9], [10], [11]. However, problems of type III error also need to be considered [cf. [12], [13], [14], [15]. Further analyses should be extended to model specific interaction effects of individual and work-related factors. Such models will provide further evidence for predictor models as well as preventional and interventional concepts.


References

1. Hasselhorn HM, Tackenberg P, Müller BH. Intent to leave nursing in the European nursing profession. In: Hasselhorn HM, Tackenberg P, Müller BH, eds. Working conditions and intent to leave the profession among nursing staff in Europe. Stockholm: National Institute for Working Life and authors; 2003. p. 115-24.

2. Estryn-Behar M, Van der Heijden BI, Oginska H, et al. The impact of social work environment, teamwork characteristics, burnout, and personal factors upon intent to leave among European nurses. Med Care. 2007;45(10):939-50.

3. Hasselhorn HM, Müller BH, Tackenberg P, Kümmerling A, NEXT-Study-Group. NEXT Scientific Report. Wuppertal, Germany: 2005.

4. Siegrist J, Starke D, Chandola T, Godin I, Marmot M, Niedhammer I, et al. The measurement of effort-reward imbalance at work: European comparisons. Soc Sci Med. 2004;58(8):1483-99.

5. Watson D, Clark LA, Tellegen A. Development and validation of brief measures of positive and negative affect: the PANAS scales. J Pers Soc Psychol. 1988;54(6):1063-70.

6. Kristensen TS, Borritz M, Villadsen E, Christensen KB. The Copenhagen Burnout Inventory: A new tool for the assessment of burnout. Work & Stress. 2005;19(3):192-207.

7. Borritz M, Kristensen T. Copenhagen Burnout Inventory: Normative data from a presentative Danish population on Personal Burnout and Results from the PUMA Study on Personal Burnout, Work Burnout, and Client Burnout. Copenhagen: National Institute of Occupational Health; 2001.

8. Halbesleben JRB, Buckley MR. Burnout in organizational life. Journal of Management. 2004;30(6):859-79.

9. Jansen PGM, Kerkstra A, bu-Saad HH, Van Der Zee J. The effects of job characteristics and individual characteristics on job satisfaction and burnout in community nursing. International Journal of Nursing Studies. 1996;33(4):407-21.

10. Burisch M. A longitudinal study of burnout: The relative importance of dispositions and experiences. Work & Stress. 2002;16(1):1-17.

11. Bakker AB, Schaufeli WB, Sixma HJ, Bosveld W, van Dierendonck D. Patient demands, lack of reciprocity, and burnout: A five-year longitudinal study among general practitioners. Journal of Organizational Behavior. 2000;21(4):425.

12. Kimball AW. Errors of the Third Kind in Statistical Consulting. Journal of the American Statistical Association. 1957;52(278):133-42.

13
Lu TH. International comparisons: they do help and are essential for avoiding type III error. Injury Prevention. 2001;7(4):270-1.
14.
Schwartz S, Carpenter KM. The right answer for the wrong question: consequences of type III error for public health research. Am J Public Health. 1999;89(8):1175-80.
15.
Rose G. Sick Individuals and Sick Populations. International Journal of Epidemiology. 1985;14(1):32-8.

Teaching in Learning Societies: Outline of Project

by The Educational Work Group Monash University

This project investigates the teaching profession in learning societies. It questions the established assumption that... more This project investigates the teaching profession in learning societies. It questions the established assumption that teaching is about education in schools. It argues that lifelong learning reforms re-order teaching across diverse learning spaces. These spaces are located in and between education institutions and workplaces. They involve more work across borders and contribute to human service work required in global economies, with impacts on teacher capacities, identities, supply and recruitment. The project develops theory and evidence about teaching and emerging occupational boundary work, identifies practical implications for the teaching workforce, establishes research platform to investigate globally distributed human service work.

Griffiths, M.D. (2008). Tips on developing trust with work colleagues. In S. Anthony (Ed.), Taking Care: Making The Most Of Your Consultant Post. pp. 66-67. Leeds: Medical Protection Society (ISBN 978-1-903673-03-4).

by Mark Griffiths

Griffiths, M.D. (2006). Tips on…Making the most of your job. British Medical Journal Careers, 332, 241.

by Mark Griffiths

Griffiths, M.D. (2005). Tips on…Communicating with colleagues. British Medical Journal Careers, 331, 110.

by Mark Griffiths

Griffiths, M.D. (2006). Tips on…Developing trust with your colleagues. British Medical Journal Careers, 332, 193.

by Mark Griffiths

Griffiths, M.D. (2003). Tips on…Leading a team. British Medical Journal, 326, S210. (Also reprinted in Student British Medical Journal, 2003; 11, 459)

by Mark Griffiths

Griffiths, M.D. (2003). Tips on…Getting ahead. British Medical Journal 326:S70. (Also reprinted in Student British Medical Journal, 2003; 11, 107)

by Mark Griffiths

Griffiths, M.D. (2004). Tips on….Resolving conflict in the workplace. British Medical Journal (Careers), 328, 169.

by Mark Griffiths

Lee-Treweek. G. (1997) ‘Women, Resistance and Care: An Ethnography of Nursing Auxiliary Work’.

by Geraldine Lee-Treweek

Work, Employment and Society, Vol 10, no. 4

Also reprinted in D. Harper and H. Lawson (eds) (2003) The Cultural Study of Work, Lanham, US: Rowman and Littlefield.

Paid care work has traditionally been marginalised within the sociology of work. This paper argues that this absence... more Paid care work has traditionally been marginalised within the sociology of work. This paper argues that this absence needs to be addressed and redressed as paid care is an increasingly important source of employment for women in Britain. Ethnographic material from a study of the labour of auxiliaries in a nursing home is used to illustrate how paid care is affected by factors similar to those which are salient in other forms of work. Like workers in non-care occupations, paid carers use resistance as an everyday strategy to get through their work. This paper argues that ethnographic approaches, favoured by sociologists who studied factory labour in the 1970s and 1980s, may prove to be crucial in revealing that care work is real work.

To make ends meet. Women over 60 write about their working lives

by Jo Stanley

Well who'd want an old picture of me at work?'

by Jo Stanley