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Occupational Determinants of Job Stress: Socioeconomic Status and Segmented Labor Markets

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Work and Mental Health in Social Context

Part of the book series: Social Disparities in Health and Health Care ((SDHHC))

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Abstract

While organizations are the most proximate determinants of job structures, job structures are not completely determined by them. Job structures are also broadly shaped by customs and laws, such as antidiscrimination and worker safety laws. But the most significant “external” determinant of job structures is the relative availability of individuals with the appropriate “capital,” the knowledge, training, skills, and experience, to fill particular job openings. Jobs differ in the kinds of tasks that need to be performed and individuals differ in both the type and amount of capital that would enable them to perform these tasks. The differences roughly correspond to differences among occupations. Occupations are aggregations of jobs that involve similar tasks or activities regardless of employer, and requiring similar skills and training (Kalleberg and Berg 1987: 78, 84; Vallas et al. 2009: 37). Organizations thus structure jobs to allow them to find suitably trained and skilled workers in the labor market. Hence, part of the explanation for the structure of jobs in organizations is related to the nature of occupations and to the labor market that links workers to those jobs.

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  1. Department of Sociology, The University of Akron, Akron, OH, USA

    Mark Tausig & Rudy Fenwick

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Tausig, M., Fenwick, R. (2011). Occupational Determinants of Job Stress: Socioeconomic Status and Segmented Labor Markets. In: Work and Mental Health in Social Context. Social Disparities in Health and Health Care. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-0625-9_4

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