Nations and Occupations

Cross-national comparative approaches have yielded a rich set of insights about the diversity of national forms of contemporary capitalism, including the ways in which the organization of work and employment differs across countries. At the same time, the cross-national framework has also functioned in certain respects as a conceptual straitjacket, preventing us from recognizing alternative structuring principles in the macro context, and the existence of patterns that cut across national boundaries. The five papers that comprise this dissertation together seek to advance a dual agenda for advancing the macro-comparative study of work and employment, one that recognizes both the strengths and limitations of the cross-national framework. Looking at different sets of high- and middle-income countries, the papers use various statistical methods (including OLS and cross-classified multilevel regression models) to consider outcomes ranging from union organization to unemployment to non-standard working arrangements. On the one hand, this project offers new insights into the cross-national diversity of systems of work and employment. For example, one paper adds to our understanding of wh