ABSTRACT
It has long been thought that one of the distinguishing features of middle-class people is their reliance on bureaucratic, organizational careers that allow them to move through an internal labour market from junior to more senior jobs (e.g. Mills 1951, Whyte 1957, Goldthorpe 1980a). From the mid-1980s, however, there have been indications that this traditional picture has been overtaken by events, as some commentators have argued that bureaucratic organizational forms are on the wane. To give only a few examples, Lash & Urry (1987, 1994) suggest that a new era of “disorganized” capitalism has arisen; Clegg (1990) points to the rise of the “post-modern organization”; while others argue that the flexible firm has developed as a departure from bureaucratic norms (e.g. Atkinson 1984). If developments such as these are indeed occurring, it suggests that traditional conceptions of the middle classes may themselves be in need of overhaul. This paper offers a contribution to such an exercise by considering how organizational restructuring is redefining the nature of the middle-class career.
