Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology Online

Extract

The concept of labor market dualism was first developed by institutionalist economists critical of conventional analyses of the labor market (Peck 1996). They argued that different categories of workers faced contrasting management policies, as white male workers were preferentially recruited to jobs offering training, pay gains, promotion, and job security. This meant access to organizational job ladders which constituted “internal labor markets” governed primarily by organizational rules. Meanwhile, women and minority ethnic groups generally had access to insecure, low-paid jobs without internal training and promotion prospects, and were confined to the external labor market constituted by such jobs. This analysis contested neoclassical economic models of the allocation of individual workers across a spectrum of jobs according to individual skills and preferences, and emphasized the ways in which organizational structures and management decisions generated a division between primary and secondary labor markets which operated according to different logics.Dual labor market theorists nevertheless differed in their analyses of the organizational logic of dualism. Some linked it to the contrast between large oligopolistic employers and small competitive enterprises. Since large employers themselves differentiated between primary and secondary workforces, however, others argued that ... log in or subscribe to read full text