das wachstum der dienstleistungsarbeit: vier soziologische erklaerungsansaetze

abstract: growth tendencies of the tertiary sector are generally considered as something like a developmental law determining the "post-industrial" future of advanced societies. but this consensus is a superficial one, as there exists a conspicuous lack of conceptual demarcations, empirical operationalizations and explanatory hypotheses concerning the tertiary or "service" sector. as far as the latter problem of explanation is concerned, four different causal/functional explanations can be found in the empirical and theoretical literature. little if anything is known concerning the relative significance and merits of these four hypotheses, each of which is explored in some detail.;