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Using data obtained from 12 national samples contained in the General Social Survey over the period 1973 through 1990, this article analyzes the work value preferences of 7,436 full-time male and female workers, representing all major occupational classifications and all major industries. The data presented in the study provide no consistent support for general differences between men's and women's work values. Instead, the data suggest that regardless of gender, one's preference for a given work value depends, in large part, on one's age, education, and occupational prestige. The authors argue that alleged gender differences are minimal, at best, and continued emphasis on differences merely serves to reinforce traditional gender-role stereotypes and to perpetuate gender inequality in the workplace.

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This study uses detailed information from the Department of Labor (O'NET 98) concerning the characteristics and content of 1,122 occupations, and combines these data with information on alcohol and drug use collected by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration in their 1997 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse (NHSDA). Using a merged data set, based on 7,477 full-time workers, weighted logistic regression analyses were used to examine the relationships between eight occupational and job dimensions and workers' current and prior use of alcohol and drugs. Results show that steady employment or job security has the most pronounced negative effect on alcohol and drug use, while characteristics such as the pace of activity, job independence, and skills utilization to include feelings of accomplishment have little or no effect on employees' alcohol and drug use. Furthermore, the etiology of cocaine use appears quite different from that of alcohol and other types of drug use: all else being equal, employees' odds of using cocaine, when working in an occupation with greater job variety, decrease by 64 percent. However, employees in occupations with greater job autonomy are about 4 times more likely to use cocaine than are employees in jobs with less autonomy. These findings suggest that occupational conditions have a discernible influence on alcohol and drug use among employees, albeit in more complex ways than those suggested by much of the organizational stress and occupational subcultural literature.

This study examines the processes underlying gender discrimination in a large Australian government research organization. It is specifically concerned with discrimination that occurs after the initial assignment of employees to career streams or ladders has occurred. When questioned, 37 and 41 percent of the women surveyed stated that they had regularly experienced promotional or day- to-day discrimination. Based on analyses of data collected from 625 women and 512 men, evidence is presented for a vested interest explanation as best account ing for promotional discrimination, as distinct from day-to-day discrimination. These findings highlight the need to recognize and treat different forms of gender discrimination in the workplace as analytically distinct.