ABSTRACT
The conception of the labour market as a complex, not to say contradictory, institutional structure could hardly be further from the neo-classical image of a self-equilibrating labour market in which individual actors pursue rational self-interest within a framework of free competition. In that neoclassical world, the labour market is a social space in which the actions of all actors are governed by a particular set of rules: those of competitive and optimising behaviour (Marsden 1986: 142). With its diverse origins in institutionalist labour economics, Marxian, and post-Keynesian approaches, segmentation theory has developed in recent decades into the leading alternative to the prevailing neo-classical orthodoxy. While disputes between segmentation theorists and orthodox economists often focus on empirical questions (such as the extent of occupational segregation or patterns of wage dispersal), they also reflect fundamental theoretical disagreements. In particular, these disagreements concern the rules governing labour market behaviour or how the labour market is regulated.
