Organizational Careers

by Barney G. Glaser (Editor)

Although sociologists have written extensively on the broad subject of occupational careers, generally they have referred only incidentally to organizational careers within work organizations. In this pioneering sourcebook, now considered a classic, Glaser gathered from the literature of occupational sociology those studies that bear most directly on organizational careers. His objective was to provide the first survey of the substantial body of data on the subject and to place this data in a framework that illustrates its significance for the development of theory. In an extensive introduction, the editor explains the several purposes of the book and describes in detail the process of comparative analysis through which sociological theory on organizational careers can be generated. Organized around general themes such as recruitment, motivation, commitment, mobility, and succession, the writings of prominent sociologists--including Riesman, Caplow, Hughes, Becker, and Wilensky--form the content of the book and systematically cover every important facet of organizational careers. The editor's introductions to each section of the book alert the reader to the general phenomena--such as processes, conditions, categories, hypotheses, and properties--that crosscut and are generally relevant to all organizational careers and are, therefore, the raw material of theory. These introductions also suggest questions and problems for further analysis and research. This book as a whole stands as a demonstration of the contributors' method of how the sociologist, working from the data of research, can generate grounded, formal theory on this or any social phenomenon. This book also presents a vital body of data on organizational careers and a guide to further research that will be of great use both to occupational sociologists and to all those involved in the study of organizations.

480 pages, Paperback

First published September 30, 2007

About the author

Barney G. Glaser is an American sociologist and one of the founders of the grounded theory methodology. Glaser was born in San Francisco, California and lives in nearby Mill Valley. He received his BA degree at Stanford in 1952. He pursued academic studies at the University of Paris where he studied contemporary literature. He also studied literature at University of Freiburg for two years during off-hours from his military service.

At Columbia he was a student of Paul Lazarsfeld and Robert K. Merton and received a Ph.D in 1961. The dissertation was published in the book Organizational Scientists: Their Professional Careers. Post-doc Glaser started a research collaboration with Anselm Strauss at the University of California, San Francisco. Together they wrote Awareness of Dying (1965) based on a study of dying in Californian hospitals. The book was a success. As a response to the many methodological questions on the dying study the first grounded theory (GT) methodology appeared in 1967 co-authored with Strauss: The Discovery of Grounded Theory.

In 1970 Glaser started the publishing company Sociology Press specializing in grounded theory methodologies and readers. The second grounded theory methodology was written by Glaser in 1978 (Theoretical Sensitivity). Thereafter, Glaser has published several readers of grounded theory and four more methodologies. He has traveled throughout the world giving workshops and seminars to many researchers. In 1998 Glaser received an honorary doctorate from Stockholm University.

In 1999 Glaser founded the non-profit web based organization Grounded Theory Institute. He owned Cascade Acceptance Corporation, which filed for bankruptcy in November 2009. In July 2010, the bankruptcy trustee declared that the company had been insolvent for at least two years, and the case was converted from a reorganization to a liquidation