Page 137 - DSOC202_SOCIAL_STRATIFICATION_ENGLISH

Social Stratification

Notes The flow from Class 8 to Class 7 is composed of workers who have been promoted to supervisory
positions, or who have found jobs in more highly unionized industries. The mobility between
Classes 3 and 5, and between Classes 6 and 8, are examined further in Table 7.3, which lists the
occupations which give rise to the greatest proportion of the movement. As well as facilitating
a relatively large amount of class mobility, these areas are also of interest in terms of class
theory. Mobility into a managerial job is usually seen as the result of an orderly and uni-
directional progression along a carreer line which projects the individual into a substantially
different employment status and which is accompanied by considerable changes in life style
(Pahl and Pahl 1971). However, the table shows that there is also a significant flow in the
reverse direction, from managerial to clerical and sales jobs. The sales occupations are clearly
particularly important in the flow between managerial and clerical graded jobs.
In the manual sector, there is perhaps a surprising amount of movement between the craft
occupations in Class 6 and the ‘lower’ manual occupations in Class 8. The craft occupations
tend to require specialized on-the-job training or apprenticeships, and are often portrayed as
an elite among manual workers, with considerable market power and transferable skills.
Conversely, the latter group have only their labour power to sell, and a correspondingly
weaker market position. Those who move from craft to lower manual occupations are therefore
experiencing a marked change in their labour market situation. As Table 7.3 shows, mobility
between Classes 6 and 8 is spread widely between occupations, although metal working
production fitters, drivers of road goods vehicles and storekeepers all have a fairly high
proportion of movers. None of the manual occupations act as both source and destination in
the way that sales and clerical work do in the non-manual sector, and mobility between manual
classes seems to be accounted for by movement between a rather large number of different
occupations.
The residuals in Table 7.2 also show that there is significantly less mobility between the manual
sector (the craft, higher and lower manual classes) and the non-manual sector (the managerial,
technical and clerical classes) than would be expected under a model of quasi-independene.
Conversely, there are greater flows internal to these two sectors than would be expected from
the model. The self-employed class is tied more closely to the manual sector than to the non-
manual, and also gains members from Class 1, employers with employees.
The tables indicate that a good deal of changing seems to originate from relatively few class
locations. Furthermore, the non-manual occupations in these locations (but not in general the
manual occupations) are not only those which act as the source occupations for those moving
‘up’ the class structure, but are also those which accept people who move ‘down’ from other
occupations with greater economic status. Goldthorpe (1980 : 14) makes a similar observation
when he refers to a state of ‘flux’ which he sees in certain intermediary areas of the occupational
structure. The flux is due to the areas’ marginality in relation to the two major organizational
principles or forms which underlie the occupational division of labour : namely those of
bureaucracy and the market.
Examples of occupations he cites as showing this marginality are routine clerical and sales
personnel, junior technicians and foremen. These occupations reflect an ‘ambiguous or uncertain
location between “staff” and “management” and the manual labour force.’ He goes on to
suggest that these occupations are those which can serve as ‘stepping stones’ in advancement
through working life but which, on the other hand, afford no strong assurance of further
progress. His view of the location of ‘flux’ within the occupational structure accords well with
the patterns of mobility shown in Tables 7.2 and 7.3, amongst, for example, sales representatives
and sales managers.
Table 7.2 also shows that there is a moderately large two way flow between self employment
(Class 2) and the lower manual class (Class 8). This flow consists principally of individuals
starting up small retail businesses (butchers, publicans and hairdressers) or working on their
own account as painters, builders and goods vehicle drivers after having been employed in a

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