Summaries
Theoretical reflections on the sociological studies of the port of Rotterdam
Evert Smit
A review of studies of industrial relations in the port of Rotterdam shows that the Dutch main stream approach, much inspired by Dunlop’s Industrial Relations System (IRS) model, could not account properly for the conflict-proneness of the industry. Marxist oriented inquiries did only offer general explanations, such as ‘class counsciousness’ and ‘technological develop ment’. For better explanations clearly a less determinist approach is needed.
In discussing several theories about militancy of dock workers, the paper concludes that structu ral characteristics of the organisation of dock work create basic tensions in the labour process. In addition the subcultural ‘syndicalist undercur rent’ among the dockers is held responsible for frequency of conflicts.
The conclusion is that the IRS-model is to much concerned with the formal and institutional re gulation of industrial relations, has a blind spot for the informal and intra-organisational labour relations and is to static to account for endemic conflict or ruptures within the system. Starting with the concept of ‘strategic choice’, several new directions in the study of industrial rela tions are briefly discussed, including the elabo ration of the concept of ‘employment relation ship’, interorganizational network studies, labour process theory and the anthropology of work.
Subjective identification with a social class in a Flemish region
Hans De Witte
An explorative analysis of a small scale survey
among unskilled blue collar and white collar workers in a region of Flanders (Belgium) showed that a majority of the blue collar wor kers still identified themselves with the working class, while a majority of the white collar wor kers described themselves as middle class. Two variables played a major role in determining the class identification of the interviewees: the professional prestige of the job and the level of occupational self-direction. The identification with a social class showed to be an important mediating variable between the occupational po sition of the interviewees and their socio-econo mic attitudes.
New production systems in the clothing indus try
Marc Peeters
In the clothing industry a discussion is going on about how to react to changing demands and wishes on the different markets. Special atten tion is paid to three new production systems. On the basis of a exploratory research this article points out that companies don’t have to neglect their structures of division of labour. From casestudies and theoretical reflections it seems that companies do not benefit directly from production systems, the solution can rather be found in new ways of organizing the produc tion of clothing products. The Modern Socio- technical systems Theory is of great value both for the analysis of these themes and for accurate proposals for redesigning the companies, so that they get more adapted to the market demands.
Summaries
The effects of mother’s occupation on inequality in society
J. Dronkers
The effects of mother’s occupation on the edu cational opportunities of a national representati ve sample of Dutch pupils leaving primary school and entering secondary education are analyzed in this study, within the context of the discussion of the significance of female occupa tion for the live chances of her family. After controlling for mother’s own educational level and the educational and occupational level of her husband, the level of mother’s occupation has still significant effects on the educational opportunities of her children. Working as a female labourer had a negative effect compared to that of house wife, contrary to the positive effects of female shopkeeper, farmer or employ ee. These effects of mother’s occupation on her children’s educational opportunities were equal for boys and girls and for different ethnic groups. Despite the strong increase of labour market participation of Dutch mothers during the eighties the effect on mother’s occupation did not change.
Market conformity, way of staffing and job security
Wim Bremer
This article concerns an empirical investigation under employees and employers on the labour market of the building industry in the Nether lands between 1980 and 1985, a period when the building industry was experiencing a severe recession and a lot of construction workers were unemployed. Object of research is the more flexible way of staffing in those years of main contractors, the effects for the development in
productivity and labour cost control and the consequences for the position of the workers. The general conclusion of the article is, that a greater market conformity, insofar as it is indicated by a more flexible use of the factor of labour, is not the means to realise a labour market that functions more efficiently. More over, the composition of the labour force will become one-sided and large groups of emplo yees will remain excluded from employment.
Wage differentials between different categories of firm size
L.H.M. Bosch
The central question this study seeks to answer is what proportion of wage differentials between different categories of firm size can be ascribed to differences in wage structure and to what extent they ar due to different employment structures. The article concentrates on gross hourly wages earned during 1985. Three sizes of private sector company are examined:
- small enterprises (SE) with less than 10 employees;
- medium-sized enterprises (ME) with 10-100 employees;
- large enterprises (LE) with over 100 emplo yees.
On average, SEs and MEs pay lower hourly wa ges than LEs, even after differences in employ ment structures have been taken into account. This wage differential is linked to a better remuneration of (particularly) personal charac teristics. By contrast, job characteristics are better remunerated by SEs and MEs. In the cal culations undertaken, the effect of personal characteristics wasprobably overestimated, since due to a lack of data only a limited number of job characteristics could be selected.
