The Organization of Work in a Segmented Economy

Stratification researchers have increasingly embraced segmentation perspectives, dividing industries into groups believed to exhibit different work arrangement and opportunity structures. Previous research, however, indicates only limited support for those predictions. This paper assesses the utility of segmentation approaches by conceptualizing and measuring sectors organizationally, rather than among industries. Center and periphery enterprises are distinguished along two interrelated dimensions: the complexity of their organizational forms (size, structure, and technology) and the degree of market power or environmental dominance. These dimensions are operationalized and tested in analyses of more than 400 work organizations. Our formulation captures predicted organizational differences in work and opportunity. For example, as hypothesized, establishments that are high on these dimensions rely more on internal career ladders and the proliferation ofjob titles. While coarse taxonomies of economic segmentation may accurately represent the economic extremes, however, they obscure the diversity of enterprises between those extremes. Stratification and work arrangements can be better understood by analyzing their specific organizational and environmental determinants.