Occupations and Inequality: Theoretical Perspectives and Mechanisms

People’s occupations are strongly related to multiple dimensions of inequality, such as inequalities in wages, health, autonomy, or risk of temporary employment. The theories and mechanisms linking occupations to these inequalities are subject to debate. We review the recent evidence on the relation...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Kölner Zeitschrift für Soziologie und Sozialpsychologie Vol. 72; no. Suppl 1; pp. 19 - 40
Main Authors: Haupt, Andreas, Ebner, Christian
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Wiesbaden Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden 01.09.2020
Springer Nature B.V
Subjects:
Abhandlungen
Autonomy
Berufsspezifische Mechanismen
Fähigkeiten
Health disparities
Inequality
Lohnungleichheit
Methodology of the Social Sciences
Occupation-specific mechanisms
Occupations
Personality and Social Psychology
Skills
Social Sciences
Sociology
Soziologische Theorie
Tasks
Temporary employment
Theorie von Berufen
Theory of occupations
Wage inequality
Wages & salaries
Berufsspezifische Mechanismen
Tasks
Skills
Fähigkeiten
Occupation-specific mechanisms
Wage inequality
Theorie von Berufen
Soziologische Theorie
Theory of occupations
Lohnungleichheit
ISSN:1861-891X, 0023-2653, 1861-891X
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:People’s occupations are strongly related to multiple dimensions of inequality, such as inequalities in wages, health, autonomy, or risk of temporary employment. The theories and mechanisms linking occupations to these inequalities are subject to debate. We review the recent evidence on the relationship between occupations and inequality and discuss the following four overarching theoretical perspectives: occupations and skills, occupations and tasks, occupations and institutions, and occupations and culture. We show that each perspective has strong implications for how scholars conceptualize occupations and which occupational characteristics are seen as relevant when explaining inequalities. Building on this, we review and critically examine the relevant theories related to and the mechanisms of the relationship between occupation and wage inequality, as an example. We conclude that there is sound empirical knowledge available on the relationships between occupations and inequality; however, some of the mechanisms are still unclear.
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ISSN:1861-891X
0023-2653
1861-891X
DOI:10.1007/s11577-020-00685-0