An Exploratory Analysis of Individualist Versus Structuralist Explanations of Income

Abstract

This paper tests two divergent explanations of income: one model based on human capital variables, the other based on neo-Marxian, structural variables. In particular, our paper extends the work of political economists and the very recent work of sociologists (especially, Bibb and Form, Beck et al., and Wright and Perrone). Our sample was a national one drawn from a larger study conducted by the National Opinion Research Center; the final sample consisted of 763 members of the labor force (415 males and 348 females). While the human capital variables produced greater explained variance than the structural variables, in a combined model the structural variables increased the explanatory power by 27 percent. The structural model worked better for men; the human capital model worked better for women.