Occupational and wage hierarchies: an historic turning point

Abstract

The production of occupational and wage hierarchies in the field of employment relations is but one of the numerous classificatory operations at work in each of the particular spaces within a society. In this sense, it is the product of ‘that set of mental habits by virtue of which we represent people and events in the form of coordinated groups’ (Durkheim and Mauss 1983). However, unlike many other classifications whose sole value is their symbolic dimension, this particular form of classification lies at the heart of the social confrontation structuring the organisation of collective employment relationships in market societies. It thus has a direct influence on the value — in terms of occupation and pay — attributed to each of the workers to whom it is applied.