An overview of the membership of nine societies that comprise the American Institute of Physics is presented, with attention to demographic characteristics, employers, work activity, salaries, physics subfields, and differences among the societies. Comparisons are made to surveys since 1979, and highlights on 1983 salaries are included. One section is based only on employed Ph.D. physicists, with focus on physics research and interrelationships among physics employment subfields. Details are provided on the levels of research in each physics subfield, the mobility between subfield of degree and subfield of employment, and the overlap between employment subfields for physicists. The effects of employment sector and time since receipt of degree on the research career patterns of physicists are also examined. The societies are as follows: American Physical Society, Optical Society of America, Acoustical Society of America, Society of Rheology, American Association of Physics Teachers; American Crystallographic Association, American Astronomical Society, American Association of Physicists in Medicine, American Vacuum Society, and American Geophysical Union. Detailed statistical tables are appended. (SW)