This book is the classic source of empirical information on the patterns of occupational achievement in American society. Based on an unusually comprehensive set of data, it is renowned for its pioneering methods of statistical analysis as well as for its far-reaching conclusions about social stratification and occupational mobility in the United States. The American Occupational Structure received the Sorokin Award of the American Sociological Association in recognition of its significant contribution to the social sciences.

The American Occupational Structure

This research note gives some information about the VASMA-project (i.e. comparative analysis of societal structures with mass data.) It was financed by a generous grant from Stiftung Volkswagenwerk, Hannover, between 1978 and 1986. The project has two central goals: First, to establish the methodological and technical infrastructure for secondary analysis of "mass data" for the wider use of the Social Sciences. The term "mass data" stands for the very large datasets primarily produced by the state statistical offices. The development of a series of computer programs made it possible to rearrange the different types of classifica tions and tabulations from official statistics since 1875. Second, on this data basis the project made efforts to advance the empirical investigation of societal struc ture by means of historical and international compari sons. In this note it is reported about the historical comparative research in three directions: 1.Structural changes and the development of the employment system. 2.The connection between social modernization and the organizational change of form-structure. 3. Changes in the segregation of occupations between sexes. These three research-centers were investigated mostly in the period between 1875 and 1980. Here, only the main questions, the lines of argumentation and some of the most important results are presented. Furthermore central literature of the project is cited. Technologische Entwicklung und beruflicher Strukturwandel gelten nicht l?nger als naturw?chsige Prozesse, sondern als Entwicklungen, die zielgerichteten Steuerungsver suchen unterworfen werden k?nnen. Dieses historisch neue Verst?ndnis von Ver?n derungsprozessen im Besch?ftigungssystem stellt hohe Anspr?che an Politik und Wirtschaft. Aber auch die Sozialwissenschaften sind gefordert. An sie wird die Erwartung herangetragen, Steuerungswissen durch die Produktion von Erkenntnissen ?ber die Genese und die Dynamik des Strukturwandels bereitzustellen. Gerade in schwierigen Zeiten nimmt das Interesse an langfristigen Entwicklungen stark zu, da der Stellenwert von momentan als gravierend empfundenen Trendwechseln und von abrupten Ver?nderungen von Prozessen nur vor dem Hintergrund langandauernder Wandlungsprozesse in den historisch gewachsenen Strukturen bestimmt werden kann.(l) Historisch-vergleichende Analysen k?nnen einen Beitrag dazu leisten, die Frage aufzuhellen, inwieweit bestehende Strukturen gegenw?rtige Entwicklungen pr?formieren

Wolfgang Kleber

Papers

Labor force change in Germany since 1882: A life cycle perspective