Search results

Economic inequality in contemporary advanced societies is strongly tied to the variation in wages across occupations. We examine the extent to which this variation is captured by social class and occupational prestige and ask how the associations between class, prestige, and wages can be explained. On the basis of data from 11 countries in the European Social Survey (ESS) 2004, we find (a) that class and prestige account for a very large proportion of the occupational variation in wages; (b) that the tight links between class, prestige, and wages are strongly associated with the skill requirements of jobs but only weakly tied to other positional traits, including authority, autonomy, and scarcity; and (c) that these findings are highly similar in all countries examined. We conclude that the rank order of positions in the labor market is a social constant driven by efficiency requirements of work organizations rather than by the exercise of power. This iron law of labor market inequality clearly contradicts major class theoretical models, including Wright's and Goldthorpe's. In addition to empirically refuting contemporary class theory, we offer a number of more conceptual arguments to the same effect. At a macro level, however, power relations arguably affect the rate of economic inequality by determining the reward distance between positions in the constant rank order, as indicated by the large cross-national variation in wage dispersion.

The three papers in this section include theoretical and conceptual discussions, such as the definition of social class, how social mechanisms can be elaborated and tested, and a discussion on occupational segregation by cognitive ability.

Maggie III is an integrated system that supports a public access catalog, cataloging interface, bibliographic maintenance, circulation, electronic mail, and community information databases. Acquisitions and serials modules are under development. The system, available from the Eyring Research Institute, is based on software created for the Colorado Alliance of Research Libraries (CARL). Sidebars describe 1) the structure of the community information databases, 2) the planned use of the CARL software by other libraries in Colorado, and 3) the mounting and use of the non‐bibliographic database, “A Matter of Fact”, on the CARL system.

The tourism industry is a fractured industry in light of the number of small and medium sized companies that forms it. These SME are led by entrepreneurs who have unlimited innovative abilities. These progressive companies lead the tourism industry throughout the world. This paper's objective is to increase awareness of the role of these SME in the development of tourism everywhere, and to foresee strategies of aid and support in line with their innovative abilities. This should benefit all the partners involved in the national and international tourism industry.

Reviews some recent neoclassical‐economic writing on equitable allocation of resources and inquires whether this approach to equity might lead to a case for a right to access, particularly with respect to medical care. The common logic of this literature is that equal access to all goods and services is fair, but inefficient, so that a fairness‐preserving shift to an efficient allocation could produce an allocation that is both efficient and fair. It seems, however, that this supports “rights to access” only where the person deprived of access would lack information necessary to determine whether compensation for the deprivation might be due. Medical care does seem to be a case in point.

Avant‐propos sous les auspices de l'Institut international de Coopération intellectuelle, paraissait en 1934 le t. I, consacré à l'Europe, du Guide international des Archives. Le questionnaire envoyé à tous les États européens comportait sous les points 4 et 6 les questions suivantes: ‘Existe‐t‐il un guide général pour les diverses catégories d'Archives ou des guides particuliers pour l'une ou l'autre d'entre elles?’ et ‘Existe‐t‐il des catalogues imprimés, des publications tant officielles que privées, susceptibles de constituer un instrument complet de référence pour tout ou partie importante des fonds d'archives?’ Les réponses des divers pays à ces questions, malgré leur caractère très inégal, ont fait du Guide international un bon instrument d'information générale sur les Archives. Malheureusement les circonstances ont empêché la publication du volume consacré aux États non européens, tandis que le temps qui s'écoulait tendait à rendre périmés les renseignements fournis sur les Archives européennes.

Nobody concerned with political economy can neglect the history of economic doctrines. Structural changes in the economy and society influence economic thinking and, conversely, innovative thought structures and attitudes have almost always forced economic institutions and modes of behaviour to adjust. We learn from the history of economic doctrines how a particular theory emerged and whether, and in which environment, it could take root. We can see how a school evolves out of a common methodological perception and similar techniques of analysis, and how it has to establish itself. The interaction between unresolved problems on the one hand, and the search for better solutions or explanations on the other, leads to a change in paradigma and to the formation of new lines of reasoning. As long as the real world is subject to progress and change scientific search for explanation must out of necessity continue.