EugeneA.Weinsteinn/an/an/an/a

Weights Assigned by Children to Criteria of Prestige¹

This study is concerned with children’s conceptions of a general stratification system based upon the prestige associated with occupational positions. Research on the patterns of adult evaluation has revealed considerable consensus as to the relative prestige of many occupations. It may be assumed that consensus in evaluation is the product of a common learning process. However, it is insufficient to point only to a common learning process as an explanatory factor. The content of this process must be examined if its relationship to evaluation is to be understood. By internalizing this content and learning to respond to the conception of a general hierarchy, the individual is learning a role: that of an ascriber of prestige. The purpose of this study is to investigate one aspect of the development of that role.

Prestige, as defined in this study, is multi-dimensional. Following Hatt’s usage, some combination of all the rewards and prerequisites of a position constitutes its invidious value and hence its prestige. Thus these rewards and prerequisites serve as criteria of prestige and are of special interest here. From a survey of the literature on stratification, seven such criteria have been isolated. They are the income, education, working conditions, fame, community service, authority, and scarcity of personnel associated with a given occupation.

Two functions are performed by the ascriber in the evaluation of occupational prestige:

1. The ascriber must estimate the amount or increment of each of the criteria associated with a given occupation.

2. The ascriber must weight each criterion in accordance with its importance in his own value system.

Thus variation in prestige ratings can come about in two ways. First, there may be differences among ascribers as to the increment of any criterion associated with an occupation. For example, two ascribers could have quite different conceptions as to the amount of authority invested in a shop foreman. Second, the weights assigned to each criterion might not be the same for every group of ascribers. Income might have greater invidious value for persons of lower socio-economic status than for those of higher status. Therefore, within this conceptual framework, a general prestige evaluation would consist of the weighted rather than simple sum of the rankings on each of seven criteria.

An attempt is made to determine the relative weights children assign to prestige criteria. Of the matrix of factors related to these weights, two have been selected for analysis in this study. (a) By systematically varying age, it is hoped that developmental patterns in the importance children accord specific criteria may be discovered. (b) … [Various] studies … have indicated that one’s position in the stratification system has important consequences for the way that system is perceived. Similar studies have revealed striking differences between the value systems of social classes. By varying status level, it may be possible to determine the extent to which these differentials at the adult level are reflected in the responses of the children.

METHOD

Sample. The elementary school population of the Chicago Public School System constituted the universe from which the sample was drawn. Status level was systematically varied by stratifying schools, selecting schools most representative of the characteristics defining each stratum, and then randomly sampling within the selected schools. The status level of each school was defined in terms of the ecological characteristics of the area from which it draws its students. Using census tract data on income and education, an index was devised to measure the status level of each area.² The schools were then arrayed on the basis of this index, the range computed, and divided in three. The schools were selected as representative of the Upper, Upper-Middle, Lower-Middle and Lower status levels, respectively.

Six white male students were drawn from each of the fourth, sixth, and eighth grades within the selected schools. These grades correspond roughly to ages nine, eleven, and thirteen. White males were selected to avoid the effect of uncontrolled variation due to race and sex. Thus six students were selected from each of three grades at four schools making a total of seventy-two cases in all.

Interview. An interview schedule was designed to measure the relative weight a respondent assigns to each of the seven criteria. On each item, the respondent must rate the relative importance of two different prestige criteria. For example, "Which do you think is more important, a job which pays more or a job which takes more education?" Each criterion was compared with every other criterion once, making a total of twenty-one such paired comparisons. It was possible for any criterion to be rated higher than other criteria from zero to six times. By defining the relative weight of any criterion as the frequency of preference, a seven point scale was derived.

Method of Analysis. The results of the paired comparisons test were incorporated into analysis of variance designs; one for each prestige criterion. A check was made to insure that the techniques used in application met the assumptions of this method. The purpose of these designs was to test whether the variables of grade and status level were related to the importance assigned prestige criteria. A sample analysis for the criterion of income appears as Table 1.

RESULTS

The results of the seven analyses of variance appear as Table 2. Whenever the

TABLE 1 DISTRIBUTION OF WEIGHTS ASSIGNED TO INCOME BY GRADE AND STATUS

magnitude of the F ratio indicated a significant relationship between one of the variables (status, grade, or the interaction between the two) and the weights assigned to a particular criterion, the direction of that relationship was explored by means of t-tests. Below are the results of these further analyses.

Income. Significant differences were found between the status groups in the importance they accorded income. As status level increased, the weights assigned to income decreased. The smallest difference, that between the two middle groups, was significant, indicating significance for the entire progression.… These patterns at the adult level, operating through the mechanisms of socialization, may be producing similar patterns of evaluation in children. Table 2 shows the other variables to be non-significant.

Education. Because of the necessity of education for mobility and/or status maintenance in the Upper and Upper-Middle groups, it might be expected that children from these groups would assign higher weight to this criterion. On the other hand, economic pressures militate against the availability of education as a mobility channel for members of the Lower status group. It would be less likely that their children would accord great importance to this factor. Education is desirable for but not necessary to status maintenance in the Lower-Middle group. It might be expected that children in this group would fall between the Lower and two Upper groups. As indicated by t-tests, this was the case.

Working Conditions. As in the case of most other criteria, the important contrast in the weights assigned to working conditions was between the two Upper and two Lower groups. The difference between the combined means was significant. Factors such as dress, cleanliness of work, control over working time, may be of secondary importance in the probable future occupational roles of children in the Lower groups. This may be reflected in their low frequency of preference for this criterion. Conversely, working conditions are part of the definition of the occupational sub-culture in the Upper and Upper-Middle groups. It might be expected that their children would place higher value on the criterion.

Fame. Table 2 shows both status and grade to be related to the weights assigned to fame. There is a clearly defined progression in the importance assigned to fame at each grade level, ratings being highest in the fourth grade, lowest in the eighth. One way of interpreting this pattern would hold that fame’s connotations of adventure and individual glory would have greater appeal for the egocentricity of younger children; as they grow older and there is a reduction in egocentric perspective, this appeal diminishes. The distribution of weights by status level was opposite to that found for working conditions, fame having significantly more appeal for Lower and Lower-Middle status children. The type of public adulation connoted by fame may not be given as much emphasis as recognition for professional achievement by those in the professions and similar occupations. On the other hand, becoming famous, with its implications for economic reward and personal gratification

TABLE 2 RESULTS OF ANALYSES OF VARIANCE OF WEIGHTS ASSIGNED TO PRESTIGE CRITERIA

may be equated with success by those in Lower status groups and hence evaluated more highly.

Community Service. The results for this criterion were all nonsignificant, scores being uniformly high for all groups. It is likely that helping to serve the community had considerable appeal on a moral basis. "Helping" is good, and as such it should be regarded as important.

Authority. Both grade and status level were related to the weights assigned to authority. Authority held significantly more appeal for students in the sixth and eighth grades than for those in the fourth grade. By the sixth grade, the meaning of authority changes from one implying purely power to one implying increased ability and personal responsibility. Having authority was given significantly more emphasis by Lower and Lower-Middle status children. It may not be power over others but control over one’s own decisions that is emphasized in the two Upper groups. If this is the case, authority per se would not be of great importance to them. On the other hand, the parents of children in the Lower groups are often dependent upon persons in authority positions for their means of livelihood. The concept of being "boss" may be considerably more important in the lives of these children.

Scarcity. Analysis of variance showed that variation in the weights assigned to scarcity was due to the interaction of the factors of grade and status level. What appeared to be happening was that the interpretation placed on the criterion was related to grade; the evaluation related to status. Younger children tended to give romantic interpretations; older children saw implications of formal skills and limited opportunities. A t-test indicated that younger Lower and Lower-Middle and older Upper and Upper-Middle status students gave this criterion more weight than the remainder of the students in the sample.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings support the conclusion that patterns of occupational evaluation found in adult status level sub-cultures are reflected in the ways children perceive the status structure and function as ascribers of prestige. Generally, criteria implying material rewards are given more emphasis by children from Lower or Lower-Middle status backgrounds; criteria implying psychic rewards, extensive prerequisites, and personal ability are given greater weight by Upper and Upper-Middle status students. Developmental factors appear to be operating in the weights assigned to several of the criteria. In the case of authority and scarcity, these factors seemed to influence the way in which the child would interpret the criterion. In the case of fame, they appeared to reflect differentials in egocentricity.

Some consideration should be given to the limits of generalizability of these conclusions. The probability values for the various statistics used refer to a sample of Chicago Public School students. It is to this group that these conclusions are directly relevant. However, insofar as these data are consistent with the findings of many researchers in the area of social stratification, they may be in part independent of local idiosyncrasy. To this extent, it is hoped that they may be suggestive for further study of the development of ascription behavior in mass society.

SUMMARY

The purpose of this study was to determine the relative weights children assign to various criteria of occupational prestige, and to assess the effect of their status background and grade level upon these weights. Through the analysis of variance of children’s responses to a paired comparisons test, the following relationships were found:

1. The child’s status level was related to the weights assigned to income, education, working conditions, fame, and authority. For income, fame and authority, the weights assigned to the criteria increased as status level decreased. The direction of the relationship was opposite for education and working conditions.

2. The child’s grade level was related to the weights assigned to fame and authority. As grade increased, the importance given fame diminished; that accorded to authority increased.

3. The interaction of the two variables was related to the weights assigned to scarcity. Older Upper and Upper-Middle, and younger Lower and Lower-Middle status students gave this criterion the greatest weight.

These directional patterns were generally congruent with those found in adult ascription behavior.

¹ From , 1956, 19:126–132. By permission.

² Median family income and median school years completed for population 25 years and older were used in constructing the index. They were combined by means of conversion to standard scores.