![]() Since the late 1940s, national surveys have asked Americans to rate the prestige of dozens of occupations, and their ratings are averaged together to yield prestige scores for the occupations (Hodge, Siegel, & Rossi, 1964). When occupation is used, sociologists often rely on standard measures of occupational prestige. Sometimes one of these three variables is used by itself to measure social class, and sometimes two or all three of the variables are combined (in ways that need not concern us) to measure social class. Functionalist sociologists rely on measures of socioeconomic status (SES), such as education, income, and occupation, to determine someone’s social class. Yet even here there is disagreement between functionalist theorists and conflict theorists on which objective measures to use. ![]() Source: Data from General Social Survey, 2008. This problem leads most sociologists to favor objective measures of social class when they study stratification in American society. The trouble with such a subjective measure is that some people say they are in a social class that differs from what objective criteria might indicate they are in. For example, the General Social Survey asks, “If you were asked to use one of four names for your social class, which would you say you belong in: the lower class, the working class, the middle class, or the upper class?” Figure 8.3 “Subjective Social Class Membership” depicts responses to this question. If we choose the subjective method, we ask people what class they think they are in. The researcher is the one who decides which social class people are in based on where they stand in regard to these variables. ![]() ![]() If we choose the objective method, we classify people according to one or more criteria, such as their occupation, education, and/or income. We can measure social class either objectively or subjectively. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |