Class formation, wage formation and community protest in a metropolitan control centre

• Published in: International journal of urban and regional research 1984-09, Vol.8 (3), p.354-387
• Main Authors: Lovatt, David, Ham, Brian
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Labor market; Urban (see also Ru/Ur)
• ISSN: 0309-1317; 1468-2427
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-2427.1984.tb00615.x

An approach to Ur labor markets is proposed that derives from analysis of social consciousness, theories of labor market segmentation, & the classical theory of wage formation. Shortcomings of neoclassical economics & geographical empiricism are considered in a critique of J. H. Goldthorpe's & K. Hope's occupational mobility study (The Social Grading of Occupations, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1974); the alternative approach is illustrated in an empirical study conducted in two inner London, England, boroughs in 1980/81. Interviews were conducted with 874 economically active men & women (aged 36-55), reviewing their employment histories over 15 years; findings were analyzed via modified mobility tables & thorough breakdown of the relationship between earnings & necessary expenditures. Major findings include: (1) an apparent falsification of actual work experience by conventional mobility tables; (2) a relationship between the process of wage formation & spatial variations in necessary wages; & (3) a material, necessity-oriented consciousness among workers as a strong determinant of stable conflict levels. The conventional economist's dualism between national & local labor markets is deemed inadequate; a dichotomy between events & processes is considered more valid, since it can account for the spatial differentiation & contradiction of wage formation processes. 8 Tables, 1 Appendix, 36 References. HA Tr & Modified by L. Whittemore.