A Revision of Chapin's Social Status Scale

Abstract

L individual or a family occupies with reference to the prevailing average standards of cultural possessions, effective income, material possessions, and participation in the group activities of the community.' In an effort to derive useful quantitative values for this type of social status, Chapin has built a scale which is based on the equipment and condition of living rooms of urban homes. A description of the various stages of development of the scale is available elsewhere2 and need not be repeated here. The purpose of the present report is to present a rationale for deriving weights for the items of the scale, based on a particular type of factor analysis of the I933 Social Status Scale, and to present a revised set of weights derived by that rationale, using data that Chapin had available. The underlying assumptions for using living room equipment as items of the scale are stated to be: (i) the living room is the room most likely to be the center of interaction of the family; (2) it reflects the cultural acquisitions, the material possessions, and the socio-economic status of the family; (3) the attitudes of friends and other visitors, and hence social status, may be advantageously influenced by the selection and proper display of cultural objects in the living room. In short, it is assumed that the material culture articles of living room equipment, whether window drapes, rugs, chairs, pictures, musical instruments, or newspapers and other devices of communication, reflect the attitudes of the members of the family; it is also assumed that these same articles condition the attitudes of others toward the family and consequently determine the social position in the community.3