Do Skills Protect from Prejudice? Occupational Status and Ethnic Penalties in British Immigration Preferences

This critical study on women and work-life extension compared motivations, needs satisfaction, barriers and resources faced by ethnically diverse women in high and low status occupations. Twenty-seven women (mean age = 64; age range 55 to 79 years) who at 55 years or older, had changed careers or places of employment, or who had retired and currently volunteer were interviewed. Four were Asian/Pacific Islanders, seven Māori and 16 European New Zealanders. Themes were compared between women in low and high status occupations. Instrumental motivations were most common among women in lower-status occupations and entrepreneurs whereas idealistic motivations were more prevalent with higher- status occupations and volunteer posts. Themes related to needs satisfaction show that work met basic and security needs among lower-status occupations but self-actualization needs were expressed more frequently in higher-status occupation. Feelings of belonging and a sense of achievement were cited by most participants. Themes relating to barriers faced by participants in lower-status occupations and by minority women include inadequate skills and access to information, and racial, ageist, and sexist discrimination. Themes also revealed multiple sources of supports: employers provided training and managerial support, and for some non-profits, a collaborative working atmosphere and co-workers who met older workers’ needs for belonging and sense of achievement, and who potentially, as a unit, could advocate for better working conditions for older workers. Work-life extension has the potential for creating classes of older female workers with differential access to work opportunities and level of aspirations achievable.

8 - The Effect of Occupational Status on Mortality

This study investigated the effects of ecological-level marketization, individual-level occupational status, and their interaction, on depression in residents in urban China. Population-based data ( N = 13,004) from the 2016 China Family Panel Survey were used. A multilevel mixed-effects generalized linear model explored whether and to what extent market transition measured by the marketization index (MI), occupational status measured by international socio-economic index (ISEI), and their interaction, affected people’s depression. Results showed that higher MI ( b = –.157, p < .001) and ISEI scores ( b = –.124, p < .001) were associated with lower levels of depression. However, residents with high occupational status might suffer a uniquely elevated level of depression when living in highly marketized cities ( b = .139, p < .05). Raising the public mental health awareness of residents with low occupational status from low marketized areas and that of residents with high occupational status from high marketized areas is warranted in societies undergoing rapid marketization, such as China.

Socio-demographics and workplace stress may affect men and women differently. The aim of this cross-sectional study was to assess sex-specific interactions among age, occupational status, and workplace Demand-Control-Support (D-C-S) factors in relation to psychiatric symptoms and allostatic load levels representing multi-systemic “wear and tear”. It was hypothesized that beyond main effects, D-C-S factors would be moderated by occupational status and age in sex-specific directions predictive of subjective psychiatric symptoms and objective physiological dysregulations. Participants included healthy male (n = 81) and female (n = 118) Montreal workers aged 20 to 64 years (Men: M = 39.4 years, SD = 11.3; Women: M = 42.8 years, SD = 11.38). The Job Content Questionnaire was administered to assess workplace D-C-S factors that included psychological demands, decisional latitude, and social support. Occupational status was coded using the Nam--Powers--Boyd system derived from the Canadian census. Psychiatric symptoms were assessed using the Beck Anxiety Scale and the Beck Depression Inventory II. Sex-specific allostatic load indices were calculated based on fifteen biomarkers. Regression analyses revealed that higher social support was associated with less depressive symptoms in middle aged (p = 0.033) and older men (p = 0.027). Higher occupational status was associated with higher allostatic load levels for men (p = 0.035), while the reverse occurred for women (p = 0.048). Women with lower occupational status but with higher decision latitude had lower allostatic load levels, as did middle-aged (p = 0.031) and older women (p = 0.003) with higher psychological demands. In summary, age and occupational status moderated workplace stress in sex-specific ways that have occupational health implications.

How do individuals with a higher versus lower occupational status experience major, unexpected changes to their work life? The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted most areas of work life and, thus, provides a unique opportunity to examine changes in work attitudes in response to a worldwide crisis. We predict that individuals with higher, but not with lower occupational status showed a decline in job satisfaction during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany (1st lockdown; March to May 2020), with subsequent recovery to initial job satisfaction levels. Based on role theory and social-psychological theories of hierarchical differentiation, we argue that, due to the profound work-related changes, individuals with higher (vs. lower) occupational status are more negatively affected in realizing their work goals and, thus, experience decreasing levels of job satisfaction. To test these predictions, we investigated trajectories of job satisfaction between December 2019 and August 2020 (7 measurement waves; N = 1583). Results of piece-wise growth curve models showed that individuals with higher occupational status showed a steeper decline in job satisfaction (followed by recovery) over time, whereas individuals with medium and lower occupational status did not experience a significant change in job satisfaction. In addition, we show that the decline in job satisfaction is moderated by perceived constraints at work associated with the pandemic among individuals with higher occupational status. Overall, these findings contribute to our understanding of the link between occupational status and job satisfaction in times of crisis.

This report examines the place of Spanish-name personnel in the occupational structure of ten hospitals in four southwestern communities. The report finds that a small number of the Spanish-name population are in high status occupations, a considerable number are in medium status occupations, and as expected the largest number are in low status occupations. Using the employment of these persons in medium and high status occupations as some measure of assimilation, the authors conclude that the predictions of some social scientists, Warner and Srole in particular, concerning the rate of assimilation of this population are too pessimistic. Warner and Srole's prediction failed to take into account such factors as the consequences of World War II, urbanism, population ratios, the influence of the border area, and the potential for mobility provided by religiously-affiliated organizations.

Although public stigma imposes a great burden on those affected with manifold negative consequence there is not much known about public stigma related to fatigue. Therefore, this study addresses the following research questions: (1) What is the magnitude of public stigma toward individuals with fatigue? (2) Are there differences in public stigma depending on the social characteristics of the affected person (sex, occupation, and migration)? Analyses are based on a national telephone survey in Germany (N = 1,209). A vignette describing a person with symptoms of fatigue was presented to the respondents. Vignettes were varied according to sex, occupational status, and migration status. Stigma toward the person presented in the vignette was measured by stereotypes and negative emotional reactions (anger). Of the stereotypes under study, "hypersensitive" was most frequently endorsed by the respondents (35.7%), followed by "weak will" (27.2%). About 15-20% of the respondents agreed that they react with anger, annoyance or incomprehension. There were considerable differences in fatigue stigma according to the social characteristics of the affected person. In two social groups public stigma was particularly pronounced: (1) male persons with a low occupational status and a migration background; (2) female persons with a high occupational status and without a migration status. In contrast, women with a low occupational status and a migration background were less stigmatized. Individuals suffering from fatigue symptoms are confronted with stereotypes and negative emotional reactions by the public. Magnitude of public stigma considerably varies according to social characteristics of the afflicted person. Future studies should consider applying an intersectional approach to identify groups that are at risk of multiple stigma.

The aim of the paper is to examine the interrelationships between socioeconomic indicators such as occupational status, education and income, and self‐reported ill‐health in a nationwide, representative sample of employed Norwegians aged 20–64 years. Three measures of ill‐health were selected for scrutiny: long‐standing somatic illness, reduced work potential due to longstanding somatic illness, and symptoms of nervous conditions. The relationships between the health outcomes and the socioeconomic variables were modelled by means of logistic regression while controlling for age, sex, marital status, and area of residence. The analyses show that occupational status stands out as the most important and most consistent predictor of ill‐ health, as it was significantly related to all three health outcomes. The pattern which appeared was a familiar one; the experience of ill‐health was more common among people in low status occupations, e.g. unskilled workers, compared with people in high status occupations, e.g. higher salaried employees. Education, on the other hand, was not significantly related to any of the three measures of ill‐health when other variables were controlled for. Disposable household income had an independent effect on longstanding somatic illness and symptoms of nervous conditions, while personal gross income had an independent effect on reduced work potential due to longstanding somatic illness. Personal income and occupational status also interacted with respect to work potential: Among unskilled workers, lower salaried employees, and ‘other’ self‐employed the odds ratios of experiencing reduced work potential increased with increasing income, while for the other occupational groups the trend was the opposite. In a closing section, possible interpretations of these patterns are discussed.

According to the United Nations, nearly all countries will witness a massive aging of their population within the next generation. Yet, variationist sociolinguists have rarely focused on the speech of the elderly, making the role of the elderly in models of variation and change a largely understudied area of research. To address this deficit, this chapter analyzes three syntactic variables representing different aspects of grammatical complexity using data from 479 speakers of German, ranging in age from 79 to 101 years, drawn from a large, cross-disciplinary survey. Three indicators of grammatical complexity are assessed: (i) utterance length, (ii) pronominalization rate, and (iii) clause embedding. Seven external variables are considered: cognitive health: (i) DemTect score; social power: (ii) socio-economic occupational status, (iii) personal wealth, (iv) level of education; social network: (v) number of contacts; and, socio-demographic: (vi) gender, (vii) age. The findings show that pronominalization rate is higher with greater cognitive impairment, lower occupational status, lower education, and smaller social networks. In addition, utterance length is greater with lower cognitive impairment, higher occupational status, higher education, younger age, more wealth, and with men. Finally, clause embedding is greater with higher occupational status, higher education, and the more wealth. While utterance length and pronominalization rate both correlate with properties that are of particular importance with the elderly (cognitive health and age), clause embedding is a robust indicator that correlates only with socio-economic factors. The results of this study demonstrate that any model of lectal cohesion and the speech community must take into account the elderly. Even under the – debatable – assumption that the elderly are not the locus of change, they will exert a growing influence as a counterforce to change.

physical activity promotes healthy aging. However, little is known about the relationship between physical activity levels and healthy and chronic disease-free life expectancy (LE). The study aim was to examine healthy and chronic disease-free LE between ages 50 and 75 and across various levels of physical activity by sex and different occupational statuses. overall, 34,379 women (mean age 53.2 (SD 2.9) years) and 8,381 men (53.6 (SD 3.2) years) from the Finnish Public Sector study were categorized into five physical activity levels (inactive to vigorously active) according to self-reported physical activity and into three occupational statuses at the first observation point. Partial LE between ages 50 and 75 based on discrete-time multistate life table models was defined using two health indicators: healthy LE based on self-rated health and chronic disease-free LE based on chronic diseases. The average follow-up time for health indicators was 6.8 (SD 5.2) years. a clear dose-response relationship between higher physical activity levels and increased healthy and chronic disease-free LE in men and women, and within occupational statuses was found. On average, vigorously active men and women lived 6.3 years longer in good health and 2.9 years longer without chronic diseases between ages 50 and 75 compared to inactive individuals. The difference in years in good health between vigorously active and inactive individuals was the largest in individuals with low occupation status (6.7 years). higher levels of physical activity increase healthy and chronic disease-free years similarly in men and women, but more among persons with low than with high occupational status.

A growth in organizational justice research is evident in the field of public administration. This present study asks whether the relationship between key justice perceptions and attitudinal and performance outcomes vary as a function of occupational status. Building on the extant literature on social status, this study hypothesizes that employees in a higher status occupation will respond more strongly to justice perceptions than those in a lower status occupation by exhibiting lower levels of job satisfaction, organizational commitment, task performance, and citizenship behaviors. Based on a sample of employees in a large public agency in Thailand, our findings indicate that although employees in the two occupational groups do not differ significantly in their perceived justice levels, those in a higher status occupation are more strongly affected by perceptions of procedural and interpersonal justice. This study underscores the importance of accounting for occupational differences when it comes to implementing justice-related policies and practices.

The feature kortstavighet, i.e. a short vowel followed by a short consonant (VC) in two-syllable words, is one of the most salient patterns distinguishing Swedish spoken in Finland from Swedish spoken in Sweden. The VC feature is a common phenomenon both in the spoken standard language and the dialects in Finland Swedish. There is, however, still a lack of studies exploring VC in spontaneous speech by speakers from different regions. Based on sociolinguistic variation research, the study aims to investigate the VVC/VCC and VC variations in two-syllable words. The data consists of recordings from a total of 80 speakers across five different cities (Turku, Helsinki, Vaasa, Porvoo and Tammisaari). The speakers are of different genders and ages and have different social backgrounds in terms of level of education and occupational status. The results show large individual differences. The variation partly correlates with education level and occupational status as well as with regional background, while gender and age do not seem to be as significant. Regardless of their regional background, those with higher levels of education and higher occupational status use the variants in a similar way, i.e. more long vowel variants and fewer short vowel variants. This applies both to the frequency of different variants and to the type of words occurring in different variants. Those with lower levels of education and lower occupational status use more short vowel variants and fewer long vowel variants. However, there are some regional differences among these speakers in terms of the type of words occurring in different variants.

Research shows that sexual minorities and heterosexuals differ in the level of success in educational and earnings attainment, but differences in occupational attainment have been unclear. To extend the literature, this article examines sexual orientation differences in young adulthood occupational status by analyzing the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health Waves 1 to 4. Drawing from the life course literature, a theoretical framework is developed to explain how sexual orientation shifts opportunities and constraints in the occupational attainment process. The analysis shows that the association between sexual orientation and occupational status depends on gender, the type of sexual experience used to measure sexual orientation, and the timing of first sexual experience. Women who report their first same-sex attraction or sexual contact in young adulthood have lower occupational status than those without such experience, and men who report their first same-sex dating relationships in young adulthood tend to have higher occupational status than those without such relationships. These findings extend the existing knowledge on sexual development and status attainment, which has mainly focused on heterosexual development.

The purpose of this study was to analyze the life-course effects of education, occupation, and income at ages 70, 75, 80, and 85 years, respectively, on dental caries experience of 85-year-olds. The present study includes follow-up data from a population-based study, which comprised a sample of 176 individuals aged 85 years. Data on social position were collected at ages 70, 75, 80, and 85 years by means of structured personal interviews. Clinical oral health examinations were conducted to obtain data on dental caries at age 85. Dental caries was recorded at tooth surface level and caries experience was expressed by the DMF Index: the decayed tooth surfaces (D component), missing tooth surfaces (M component), and filled tooth surfaces (F component). The participants in the present study demonstrated a high level of dental caries experience; the prevalence rate for active dental caries (D-S) was 80 percent. Older adults with low education, low occupational status, and poor income tended to have more active dental caries compared to their counterparts. In contrast, individuals with high education (F-S = 35.5) and high occupational status (F-S = 36.0) had significantly more filled surfaces than persons with low education (F-S = 24.0) and low occupational status (F-S = 25.6). Individuals with high income at ages 75, 80, and 85 years had more filled surfaces (F-S = 31.9, 33.2, 34.1) compared to persons with low income (F-S = 25.5, 23.5, 22.8). The study identified social inequalities across age among the very old individuals in relation to dental caries experience.

Analysis of socioeconomic scores of persons classified by detailed occupation in 1950 and 1960 shows general stability of occupational status over the decade but significantly-changing status for a minority of occupations. The latter are examined in terms of changing numbers of occupants and changing median age, as well as relative increases or decreases in average education and income of occupants. Slight declines in scores for persons in a high proportion of occupations is interpreted as a function of the shifting occupational distribution which makes positions in higher status occupations more common and those in lower status occupations even less privileged as time goes on. Students of Amierican society view occupation as a basic component in a definition of the social stratification system.1 This essential place of occupation in the stratification structure is reflected in both the high clegree of association between occupational status ancd other objective measures of status (such as education, incoue, and quality of housing) and the high correlation between the occupational status of individuals and the subjective evaluations made of them by others with whom they interact.2 Thus, occupation may be viewed as having both socioeconomic and prestige di-