Sociological Research and the American Working Class.

Postwar literature reveals that sociologists disagree on the composition of the working class and neglect to specify relationships among its manual, clerical, and service workers. Contrary to Marxist thought, evidence on the deskilling of working-class occupations is inconclusive. Marxist and non-Marxists agree that management has not succeeded in dictating the control of work. The literature fails to locate connections between technology, work alienation, job dissatisfaction, and the societal alienation of workers. Weakest theory and research deal with the political mobilization of the working class, which is hampered by its internal stratification and cleavages. Paradoxically, labor unions are more effective in promoting consumer interests than those of their members or other workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]