| dc.description.abstract | INTRODUCTION
Most sociological studies focusing on occupational
mobility have at least implied an interest, firstly, in the
way society is stratified along vertical or horizontal lines
or both; and second1y, in how society tr-ansforms its social
structures, or is transformed by exogenous variables in concert
with ehdogenous ones. If it is justified to assume that the
epistemological foundation for such studies has been the
propos ition that a static human SOC1 ety does not exist, !tIe
can generalize that their ultimate concern has been to understand
social change O~ 'develop~ent,' and possibly to ldirect'
it as well. Should that understanding be Enhanced, however
modestly, by this part tcul ar research, the endeavour \'d Tl have
been well rewarded.
There is a ~ifference between relating occupational
mobility to machine use alld "establishing links" between the
two variables. In order to establish such links, cne would
have to QE.Q..ve that the contractor's use of, new machine types
affects occupational mobility among the vlorters. That is not
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the purpose of this research-vas tile conceptual model givei1
in Chapter 3 clea-rly shows--for the simple re~son that one "-
would be proving what one had already taken as given. One
would be mistaking tr.e conceptual model for the hypotheses.
The conceptual model underlying this research states
Essen-tially that the nature of a given contr-act determines the
type and number of machines and occupations (hence manual
l:Jrkers) necessary to complete it. The model thus assumes
that the variety and number of new machine-types used are
technically linked with occupa.tional mobility. Given the
c0nceptual model, the research objective becomes to describe
t~e pattern of machine-use and concomitant occupational
mobi l ity, not to veriiY. the link between the two variables.
Besides th'j s , three hypotheses are tested.
The primary empirical manifestation of the research
problem is rooted in, the peculiarity of work involved ;n the
building industry--as has been out l ined in the conceptual model.
I~ order to study this problem,.a purposive sample of main contractors
operating in the City of Nairobi,.. Kenya, has been
selected. By way of an interview schedule and a score card--
l:oth of v/hich are reproduced in the appendix--contracts undertaken
during 1970-1973 inclusive have been examined and manual
~orkers at ongoing building sites interviewed.
The necessity to do this kind 'of research is
h~ightened by the fact (discussed in Chapter 2) that there has
cpparent ly been no research undertaken to r.e1ate occupational
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I mobility and machine-use in Kenya's ,buildinglndustt'Y. Now,
. this lack of at tent ion would be of no consequence if the, build-
"- ing industry had ,only a negligible impact in Kenya's national
economy. The fact rema ins , however , that the industry is of
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central importance in the economy, and cons equent ly deserves
nur ..§,tter'ltion. For example, the buHzjing industry accounted
,-,
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for an average of 35.6 percent of the total capital formation
in Kenya duri ng 1955-1959, 17.9 percent dud ng 1962-56,
and 22.7 percent during 1967-69 (Silberman, pp , 24-26).
In Chapter 1, a review of pertinent literature is
~ndertaken in order to bring out the salient theoretical and
conceptual dimensions of the research problem. For example,
discussion of the determinants of occupational mobility (as
seen by Parnes, Blau and Duncan, and Hunter and Reid, among
others) leads to the formulation and subsequent testing of
hypothesis 2.. Hypothesis 3 is derived directly from the study
carried out by Hunter and Reid as tndtcated on pc:ges (; and 7
of this thesis. The two central concepts In this research--
namely technological innovation and occupational mobility--
also derive their operational definitions from the theor~tical
discussion in Chapter 1 and 2.
But the theoretical discussion does not simply ~erve
as the material from which the researcher hzs distilled his
hypotheses and major concepts, it also suggests the wide range
of relevant perspectives already taken by leading schoiars,
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which, in turn, suggests that any literature survey in this
area, as in most 9thers, will necessarily be selective. This
"- inevitable seIectivt ty is like a self-fuifilling prophesy--it
renders criticism of itseif largeiy superficial. To apoiogize \.
for the inevitable also become~ redundant if not presumptuous.
Even if it'were possible to review ellx the relevant Liter-ature , 0:"'"
do~:sgso-for its' own sake wou,ld be of dubious vaIue in this
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context. The important thing is to determine what the essential
purpo~e i~ and how it can best be served.
If most of the sources cited deal with Western
scc icties, this merely reflects the current reality in
practically all University libraries in Africa, not the reseacher's
bias. Moreover, ,a preponderant number of pertinent
rEsearch done in Africa till now has been undertaken by
Western scholars or those using broadly similar concepts and
C!ssumptions. Citing "African" materials would at best only
hnve clouded the fact that the reader was being given more
of the sc:.ms.
I~ Chapter 2, the review is nar•r.ewed down to East
African and, particularly, Kenyan material. The purpose here
is to show justification for thE research focus and locatiun.
If the review here seems somewhat sketchy, it is ~ecause very
little sociological work has been done in Kenya, or even the
rest of East Africa, relating occupational mobility to machine
use.
In Chapter 3 the conceptual model. is presented, as
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~el1 as the units of ~tudy and analysis within which the conceptual
modE:l is ,9pcrational-ized. The hypotheses to be tested,
"- rnd the m~in assu~ptions underpinning them, are also outlined.
Finally, operatio~al definitions of the main concepts are given
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an~ adisc~ssion of the research procedur~ undertaken .
..Chapter 4 under Iines, \,/i th 'the hf1p of descri pti"Ie
stetistics, the ma in characteristics of cur samp le of contractor-s
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and contracts on the one hand, and craftsmen and operatives
on the other. However, other main characteristics incorporated
in the tabulations presented in Chapter 5 are not given in
Chapter 4, in order to avoid duplication. One will have to
derive them from tabulations in Chapter 5.
Statistical analysis is undertaken in Chapter 5
1:0 verify or disprove the hypotheses given in Chapter 3.
Chapter 6 incorporates a summary of thE'!main findings and
conclusions estab lished in the research. The bibliography
~nd appendic~s then follow | en |
