ABSTRACT
Aspirations for advancement are cooled off. Professor Seidman and his associates show how this practice affects telephone workers. Though the telephone workers generally lacked strong ties to their work and to their occupational group, almost all who considered themselves permanently in the labor force expected to remain with the company until retirement. Telephone employees do not look to the union as an avenue for advancement. Full-time union positions are very few in the Communications Workers of America, and only for the top leaders of the local was such a position even possible. Telephone workers were far more willing than factory workers to have their children follow them in their employment. Yet the great majority either wanted their children to work for the company or had no objection to such a possibility, again illustrating their liking for the company and the prestige they associated with telephone employment.
