ABSTRACT
Having looked at the career backgrounds, aspirations, and adjustments of our respondents, we now turn to some of the structural conditions of the free-lance setting itself which are decisive for the career success of these musicians. The informal channels of power and influence, the musical skills demanded of performers, and the distribution of social honor and prestige in the occupation all shape the system of social interaction in which careers develop. From the viewpoint of the free-lancer, these features are seen as problems to be solved, obstacles to be overcome, and conditions to be rendered as predictable as possible. They are occupational contingencies. 1 The successful handling of these features is called occupational success or, more informally, “making it.”
