Social Reference Basis of Job Satisfaction: The Case of Manual Workers

Abstract

Studies in job satisfaction typically assume that the individualistic value orientations of middle status groups pervade all levels of the occupational structure. This study postulated that such orientations do not characterize different types of industrial workers, and that reference group theory can account for the traditional findings, as well as such anomalous findings as high satisfaction among relatively unskilled workers. However, reference group theory itself must take into account structural features of the society such as the type of stratification system, pattern of adult socialization, and mobility rates.