Job Satisfaction among Female Clerical Workers: "Status Panic" or the Opportunity Structure of Office Work?

The most influential theoretical explanation for the job dissatisfaction of clerical workers has been that of Mills, who attributed their dissatisfaction to the declining prestige of clerical work and the unreliability of traditional bases for status claims by individual clerical workers. Kanter's alternative perspective directs attention instead to restricted opportunities for advancement and accomplishment. Specific predictions developed from these two perspectives are tested using multivariate analysis of survey data on female clerical workers in a federal agency. Perceived opportunities for training and for the full use of one's skills are most strongly associated with satisfaction, supporting the latter perspective, while hypotheses drawn from Mills's premise of "status panic" receive at best weak support. Research literature is briefly reviewed which suggests that these results are by no means unique to the federal agency studied.