Bio: (1942-2011) British sociologist. Rosemary Crompton lectured at several British universities including the City, University of London. She primarily researched issues of class and gender. Crompton showed that inequalities caused by class and gender are related. In her research on the work of white-collar workers presented in the book White-Collar Proletariat: Deskilling and Gender in Clerical Work (1984), Crompton concluded that women working as white-collar workers had little chance of upward career mobility. In addition, research has shown that most white-collar workers have experienced a decline in expertise and that promotions to middle positions have often been more formal than actual career advancement.

In her book Gendered Jobs and Social Change (1990), Crompton uses the theoretical framework of Giddens' structuration theory to show that gender differences in the labor market must be explained in different ways, depending on the type and structure of a particular profession. Although gender differences persist in almost all professions, in some professions these differences are declining much faster than in others. The success of middle-class men depends on women's domestic work, as well as on the fact that women, on average, do worse jobs and progress in their careers more slowly. To understand economic inequalities, it is necessary to understand gender inequalities. During her fieldwork, Crompton noted that fewer and fewer young women are willing to accept traditional gender roles. Women are the bearers of social change and the transformation of class relations. She has studied class, household, and gender relations in several European countries. She placed more emphasis on data obtained by qualitative methods than on the data provided by official statistics.

Main works

Economy and Class Structure  (1977);

White-Collar Proletariat: Deskilling and Gender in Clerical Work (1984);

Gendered Jobs and Social Change (1990);

Class and Stratification (1993);

Economic Restructuring and Social Exclusion (1994);

Women and Work in Modern Britain (1998);

Organisations, Careers and Caring (2003);

Employment and the Family: The Reconfiguration of Work and Family Life in Contemporary Societies (2006).