The Class Structure of Britain, Germany, Sweden and Switzerland

Abstract

We begin our discussion of the empirical results with a closer look at the four work logics. Figure 7.1 shows the distribution of individuals across the horizontal division lines to which we give heavy emphasis in the construction of our class schema. Although the four countries in our sample do not present fundamentally diverse employment structures, substantial differences emerge. The markedly industrial bias of the German economy is reflected in a predominant share of individuals evolving in a technical work logic: more than a third of Germany’s workforce are technical experts, technicians, crafts workers and operatives. This contrasts with data for Britain where only a quarter of the labour force is employed in these classes. Britain’s employment, however, clusters more heavily in the organizational work logic than the three other countries: 20 per cent of the British labour force work in managerial or associate managerial occupations and 15 per cent in clerical office jobs. In the case of Sweden, Figure 7.1 clearly reflects the importance of the country’s welfare state. A third of Sweden’s employment is set in the interpersonal service logic. The large proportion of individuals in social services is compensated by Sweden’s low share within the organizational work logic. The finding that Sweden is comparatively ‘undermanaged’ is not new and has, among others, been accounted for by the country’s large public sector (Ahrne and Wright, 1983: 223).