Het probleem van de beroepsstratificatie

Samenvatting

The presentation of a suggested theory of professional stratification. Most Dutch sociologists accept the classical formulation of F. van Heek in Stijging en daling op de maatschappelijke ladder (Rise and Fall on the Social Ladder, 1945) which states that the profession is the most useful criterion for the division and measuring of social hierarchies. The usual method is the construction of a 'ladder of professions,' based on subjective synthetic value judgments. To obtain more objective criteria, the meaning of profession is analyzed and found to originate in the old notion of 'calling' (M. Weber and E. Troeltsch). It is compared with function,' a form of DofL which originated in the organization of work. The term 'ladder' also needs clarification: it is, in any case, a false metaphor which provides no solid foundation for a theory. It is suggested that a classification of profession can best be founded upon the notion of a polyhierarchical structure of society. Society is divided into a number of substructures, each with its own hierarchy. It is by comparing these hierarchies that more objective criteria of professional stratification may be worked out. I. Langnas.