Small is Bountiful: Labor Markets and Establishment Size

1984
Author(s)
Publisher
American Sociological Review

Although there exist no detailed published studies on trends in workplace size, most research in stratification and industrial sociology has operated with the implicit assumption that, in the course of the twentieth century, workers have found themselves in increasingly larger establishments. This assumption has focused considerable attention on such concomitants of the assumed increase as growth in bureaucratic control and internal labor markets. This paper gives the first systematic empirical account of the evolution of workplace size, and presents results that call into question the appropriateness of the current allocation of research energy. It is suggested that far more attention be paid to analysis of small firms and establishments.