Sociology of Work: A Metatheoretical Analysis.

Abstract This is a metatheoretical examination of Simpson's overview of the history of the sociology of work. There is a broad correspondence between changes in the sociology of work and in sociological theory. The early period of the sociology of work was characterized by a micro-focus on creative actors, paralleling the dominance of the similarly oriented symbolic interaction theory. The middle period of the sociology of work witnessed a shift to a focus on more macro-level phenomena and their impact on more passive actors; this corresponded with the ascendancy of more macro-level theories like structural functionalism, conflict theory, and some varieties of neo-Marxian theory. More recently, there has been a rise of more integrated micro-macro concerns in the sociology of work and Simpson calls for even more of this kind of work. The 1980s have witnessed a boom in theoretical work on micro-macro integration. Sociologists of work have much to learn from this literature and theorists could learn from the empirical work on micro-macro integration in the sociology of work. Some elements of a synthetic micro-macro approach to the sociology of work are offered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]