Studies of Status Congruence

Abstract

Publisher Summary This chapter examines the concept of status congruence as it has appeared in both the social, psychological small-group literature and the survey research literature from sociology. Several interpretations of the status congruence effects have been presented, with a general agreement emerging in which status incongruence was conceptualized in terms of a model of conflicting expectations. The chapter highlights several key studies dealing with status congruence. The chapter outlines general model that deals with the two factors of mastery and justice and viewes status congruence as a specific case example of the functioning of these two factors. Several discussions of the factor of justice have been reviewed, suggesting two separable meanings for the concept: one that refers to a notion of justice as equity in which justice prevails when the relative investments and outcomes of a relationship are proportional, And the other that refers to justice as equality and exists when resources are allocated equally to all participants in a relationship rather than on the basis of investments. The chapter discusses the modes of operation of justice and mastery, considering whether they should be conceptualized according to an equilibrium or conflict-balancing model, an alternative, coordination model, or a mixed model.