Two “ideal types” characterize variation in the structure of con-
trol over labor market positions (Sorenson & Kalleberg, 1981; Eliason,
1995). In “open” systems, positions and their rewards are shaped by
market mechanisms. Workers compete for wages and other rewards
as employers seek to maximize worker productivity. As a result, job
rewards are linked to a worker’s productivity. In “closed” systems,
institutional and organizational rules limit employers’ control over
access to positions and reward distributions. Job ladders or worker
collective action, for example, through labor unions, can tie reward
structures more closely to positions than to the productivity or other
characteristics of people in those positions. Thus, in a closed struc-
ture, the employer cannot easily set wages and other rewards accord-
ing to individual productivity; for workers, competition is directed
to positions, with wage gains made largely through job shifts. Earn-
ings tend to be higher in closed systems (Eliason, 1995).
Although such “dualistic” views of labor market segmenta-
tion—core versus periphery, open versus closed—are undoubtedly
too simplistic (see, for example, Hodson & Kaufman, 1982), they
heighten sensitivity to the systematic links between positions in the
labor market and point to the important role of firm, industry, and
occupational characteristics in shaping worker outcomes, including
earnings and the mobility patterns that constitute careers.
Sociological attention has also been directed to organizational
practices that shape career outcomes. For example, organizations
that have more formalized personnel practices, that is, procedures
for recruiting, hiring, and assigning jobs, as well as for the evalua-
tion and promotion of workers, are more likely to employ racial
minorities and women (Reskin & McBrier, 2000; Reskin et al.,
1999). More positions go to racial minorities and women when
employers actively advertise job openings. In contrast, recruitment
through informal networks tends to favor the in-group; for most
upper-level positions, this group has consisted of white men
(Reskin & McBrier, 2000; Reskin et al., 1999). Because workers
generally find jobs through informal channels (Granovetter, 1974),
the structure of a worker’s social network is, in fact, an important
A SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE 49