ABSTRACT
This chapter presents results from a study of loggers in the Pacific Northwest which have implications for understanding their ability to adapt to declining job opportunities. Preliminary field investigation suggested that identity and shared meanings are key factors in the logger's ability or inability to adjust successfully to dramatic shifts in the demand for labor. A concept drawn from sociological literature which seemed at the outset of the research to have promise for conceptualizing the loggers' social world is that of occupational community. The loggers studied met the criteria describing an occupational community as defined in the sociological literature. Very clear social boundaries around the logger group were found. Occupational identity has two interrelated consequences for the logger. One is to foster what is often a very intense attachment to the occupation; the other is to provide the individual with an identity and its accompanying sense of empowerment and purpose.
