Summaries
Evaluation of the administration of social security laws
G.J.M. Jehoel-Gijsbers and E. de Vos
In this study nearly 2000 recipients of social benefits were asked to give their judgement on the administration of social security laws. Six different laws were evaluated which cover: income support, unemployment benefits, sick ness and invalidity benefits. The respondents were asked to give their opinion on three main tasks of the organisations:
1 handling of applications and administrative
procedures;
2 check on rights and duties of the recipients;
3 help and supervision (f.e. help with reinte
gration in the labourmarket).
The respondents were far more satisfied with the execution of the first task than with the execution of the third task: About one third of the recipients gave an insufficient mark for the help and supervision they (not) received. On the whole young recipients were more negative in their judgements than the older ones.
Modelling System Development: flexibility in strategy
M.A.G. van Offenbeek
The perceptions of system developers concer ning the necessity of and possibilities for a flexible approach, are evaluated. Empirical data were gathered from 314 system developers. They perceive situational factors, especially social and organisational ones, to have substantial influence on their choice of strategy. But the results also suggest the existence of a tension between their professional orientation and their actual work- experiences. The first emphasizes control and
repeatability, while their work confronts them with heterogenity and change. The ways in which system developers cope with this tension differ. Furthermore former experience and existing rules and prescribtions limit a contex tual choice of strategy. The theoretical concept of contingency-frameworks for automation processes is introduced. Although the existing contingency-frameworks could be ameliorated, they seem to be potentially useful for practitio ners.
Differences in earning between women and men, by remaining constant on education, experience and age
‘Comparable worth’-approach versus ‘Iifeper-spective’-theory
Karin Sanders
Wagedifferences between women and men are studied for the last fifteen years. Differences in education level, experience and age are part of the explanation. Because men in general have a higher educationlevel, have more experience and are older than women they have a higher salary. But, despite an equal education, same experien ce and same age men still earn more than women. These wagedifferences (differences in wages by remaining constant on education, experience and age) are called ‘indirect’ wage- differences, and are studied in this article. How can these differences between women and men, by remaining constant on education, experience and age, be explained. Two relatively new explanations are used: the ‘comparable worth’- approach and the ‘lifeperspective’-theory. According to the ‘comparable worth’ approach work done by women is seen as lower in value than work done by men. In this approach the
Summaries
percent age of women working in an occupation is seen as the explanation: given the same kind of work, the higher the percentage of women in an occupation, the lower the value of the work and the lower the salary. According to the ‘life- perspective’-theory the hypothesis is made that the more women and men expect to make a career in the future the more they are willing to invest in the job and the higher the chance they fmd a job with a high salary. Furthermore we expect that the more women expect to make a career in the future the less they expect to have children. This in contrast to men: for men it is possible to have children and a career. To test these hypotheses we conduct data from 447 female and male graduates of vocational higher education which are predominantly followed by men. Both hypotheses are confirmed. In a theoretical model element of both approaches are proposed.
How does the Flemish male labour force get a job
J. Denys
In this article we present new data how the Flemish male labour force got their first and their current jobs.
More than 40% of the male labour force found their first job via informal channels, 35% via direct application and only 24% via formal channels. Unskilled and skilled blue collar workers are using less formal channels and more direct applications than white collars and managers to fmd a job.
The famous Granovetter-hypothesis that better jobs are found via informal channels could
(again) not be confirmed.
Another Granovetter-hypothesis that during a career informal channels play a more important role couldn’t be confirmed either. On the contrary, we have some evidence that formal
channels play a more important role (especially adds).
Finally, we found some evidence that the impact of formal channels has been increasing during the last two decades. If this results can be confirmed in other research we have to think what this more important role of formal chan nels means for the allocation on the labour market!
Class position and image of society. Attitudes of workers in a fragmented class structure. Bram Steijn and Marco de Witte
An important sociological question is whether class still matters or not. On the basis of a survey in which 423 workers has been intervie- 1 wed, this article tries to answer three question' The first question deals with the different cla position occupied by these workers. With careful analysis of the work- and marketsituatic of these workers, it is shown that the cla' structure is fragmented. It is also shown that t often used class scheme of Goldthorpe does n deal adequately enough with this fragmentation The second research question deals with tht relation between the class position of the wor kers and their attitudes towards labour, politics and culture. The third question deals with the relative importance of the class position in explaining differences in attitudes. A bivariate analysis shows that class and attitudes are related. However, the classic distinction between white and blue collar is no longer valid. To answer the third research question a path analysis is executed. On the basis of this analy. we conclude that class is more important the variables such as the class position and politica attitude of the father, the self placement in the class structure, education, etc. This supports the so-called structural theory.
