The Happy Worker: An Analysis of Educational and Occupational Differences in Determinants of Job Satisfaction

Abstract

Two types of explanation for the generally high level of job satisfaction reported by workers holding manual or routine jobs are distinguished on the basis of the degree to which they emphasize the values and needs of such workers as opposed to relying upon the worker's accommodation to limited job opportunities. The former, "dispositional," approach involves theoretical assumptions compatible with a Durkheimian social theory; the "situational" approach is characteristic of a more Marxian set of theoretical assumptions. Data from a national sample of workers are analyzed to show that perceived intrinsic and extrinsic sources of satisfaction have powerful effects on overall job satisfaction irrespective of educational background and that intrinsic satisfaction is a powerful determinant of overall satisfaction among members of occupational groups, while extrinsic sources of satisfaction vary in importance among different groups. Entrinsic satisfaction is shown to be much more important as a determinant of overall satisfaction among unskilled, semiskilled, and clerical workers than it is among skilled and professional workers, a finding that is interpreted as reflecting the differential in opportunities for instrinsic satisfaction for instrinsic satisfaction associated with each group. More generally, the findings support the Marxian rather than the Durkheimian model.