TRENDS IN OCCUPATIONAL SOCIOLOGY TN THE UNITED STATES: A SURVEY OF POSTWAR RESEARCH.

OCCUPATIONAL sociology; SOCIOLOGY; OCCUPATIONS; SOCIAL sciences; AMERICAN Journal of Sociology (Periodical); ACADEMIC dissertations

Many American sociologists have been engaged in research about numerous occupations, their significance for society, and the relationship of specific jobs to peoples' lives. Exactly what occupations have been studied, and what relationships were investigated, and what techniques were used in these investigations have not been recently examined. The main purpose of this article is to survey the postwar field of occupational sociology in the United States and perhaps find answers to these and other questions. In order to examine the area of occupational sociology, the following steps were taken: Firstly, M.A. and Ph.D. dissertation titles for the years 1946-1952 as listed in the "American Journal of Sociology" were examined and classified as occupational sociology or not to discover the specific interests of graduate students in this area. Secondly, a list of current studies in sociology for 1953 was obtained from the American Sociological Society, and these titles were similarly examined and classified. Thirdly, a survey of the book reviews in the "American Journal of Sociology" and the "American Sociological Review" was undertaken to determine the type and extent of books in this area.