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Porter Lecture 2011. By John Goyder Department of Sociology and Legal Studies University of Waterloo. Guns, Butter and Sociology. The School Review , 1925 (Vol. 33).
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Porter Lecture 2011 By John Goyder Department of Sociology and Legal Studies University of Waterloo
The School Review, 1925 (Vol. 33) • “In all that has been written on occupations there is a tendency to disregard the fundamental questions of social status. . . the question of social rating is ordinarily dismissed. . .”
Photo credit: photo of photo from Rick Helmes-Hayes’ book Measuring the Mosaic
Some examples of score changes- with the overall mean increase of 12 points factored out • Firefighter, up 27 points • Garbage collector, up 21 • Logger, up 14 • House painter, up 10 • Plumber, up 8
Examples of losses • Medical laboratory technologist, down 4 • Accountant, down 6.5 • University professor (sorry!), down 12 • Lawyer, down 21 • Member of House of Commons, down 34
The consensus squeeze: • 19652005 • Index* of agreement between: • Any two low education people .39 .25 • Any two high education people .63 .31 • *Standardized regression coefficient (details in the book, page 176) • Education code: university vs. other
Criteria question • These questions have asked you about many different occupations. Can you tell us what factors you had in mind as you performed these ratings of occupations. For example, were any of the following important when doing the ratings? Let's use choices of very important, somewhat important, somewhat unimportant, very unimportant.
Follow-up open probe • Are there any other factors that, for you, determine the social standing of occupations? • . . . (open responses) . . .
Question about other people’s ratings Do you think most other people would give the occupations the same ratings you just did? (yes / no ) • Followed by- • Why would other people's ratings differ from yours? . . . (open) . . .
Some examples of responses to criteria question • Organized around three themes: • 1. Contribution to society • 2. Valuation of non-symbolic analyst labour • 3. Dignity of all Work Properly Performed
Contribution to society • “contributions to the community - influencing the quality of life” • “what can be return(ed) to society in an occupation” • “How it relates to society, the need for society”
Contribution to society- more • “How much an occupation improves the quality of life for other people” • “la contribution au bien et à l'avancement de la société.” • “what that person is giving back to the community, to society”
Valuation of non-symbolic analyst labour • “respect for skilled labor/personal risk” • “. . . For me primary industry is of high value” • “d'être vraiment travaillant comme on l'est surtout dans les métiers manuels” • “The risk on the job, for example I'd rate police officer higher”
Valuation of non-symbolic analyst labour- more • “we look up to certain people like doctors but not to a degree that they once were” • “Shuffling paper would not be of direct benefit to society. I value occupations that result in something that's completed or visibly produced at the end of the day”
Dignity of all Work Properly Performed • “Le dynamisme qu’a la personne a exercésa profession ou son métier” • “to me it is a person's desire to be the best they can be. It doesn’t matter what their occupation is as long as they have passion for it and enjoy doing it. It is good if they are good at it and bad if they perform it poorly”
Dignity of all Work Properly Performed- more • “No jobs are menial or without signification in society. The menial ones are those where there are too many generals and not enough soldiers” • “I just appreciate people going out there and trying. A garbage worker may work harder than a supervisor. It's about the character of a person”
Folks like this should have been the main prestige-gainers in the 21st century
Or these (winning my prize for best cover, in literature on the New Economy worker)
An early student of the new class: • Paul Fussell, Class. 1983. • “X people are independent-minded, free of anxious regard for popular shibboleths, loose in carriage and demeanor. They adore the work the do…” (p. 213).
Best-known source on the New Economy worker • Richard Florida, The Rise of the Creative Class. 2002. • “The members of the Creative Class exhibit a strong preference for individuality and self-statement” (p. 77)
Chrystia Freeland has been writing on the new class in the popular press • Chrystia Freeland, “America’s Growing class Divide of Sacrifice.” • “Even if you believe that the United States is a perfect meritocracy. . . you can’t deny that globalization and the technology revolution are enriching the super elite and hammering everyone else.” • Globe and Mail, 19 November 2010, Report on Business
Also, Freeland’s January-February 2011 Atlantic Monthly article:
New York Times, 7 November 2010 • Nicholar D. Kristof, “Our Banana Republic.” • “The richest 1 percent of Americans now take home almost 24 percent of income, up from almost 9 percent in 1976.”
New York Times, 26 December 2010 (Sunday Business section) • “How Superstars’ Pay Stifles Everyone Else.” • (article from the book The Price of Everything. . . by Eduardo Porter)
From ASR 1945 (Vol. 10, No. 2) “…an attempt to show the relationship between stratification and the rest of the social order” (p. 242)
The other functionalist analysis of inequality. . . seen in press coverage on “negative functions” of inequality, like this. . . or, next page=>
She doesn’t worry too much about the new inequality – which means it’s a serious problem!
Globe and Mail 24 February, 2011(A23) • Jim Stanford, “Coffee Profits are Grounds for a Raise.” • “There’s a stereotype that fast-food work is low-skill and undemanding. That’s nonsense. It takes practice and constant mental concentration to track, sequence and prepare orders. . . Our coffee-shop and fast-food work force is low on prestige, yet provides an essential national service.”
