Abstract

Sociological debate about skilled occupations ("Berufe") has been of major importance in Germany during the 70ies and 80ies. In the 90ies, the topic was discussed in terms of an erosion of standardized skills and a decline of vocations as principles of training and work organization. Lately, the debate has almost come to a halt while on the other hand there is an increasing demand for labor market analyses in the perspective of skill specifications.
The projected publication attempts to contribute to the academic debate in several respects: changes in skill profiles and the occupational structure, challenges to the system of vocational training and the persisting importance of vocations versus their replacement by other concepts, e.g. competence, employability or a new type of laborer, the so called "Arbeitskraftunternehmer".
At the same time, it should provide some directives from a sociological perspective in terms of focusing occupational research on relevant questions regarding the concept of "Beruf" and its meaning for economy and society in Germany, taking into account processes of globalization, structural change towards the service sector, organizational development and technical innovations.