Subjective Social Distance, Occupational Stratification, and Forms of Status and Class Consciousness: A Cross-national Replication and Extension

Abstract

After briefly reviewing some general theoretical issues in analyzing systems of social inequality and stratification, we propose a typology of forms of class and status consciousness. A specific procedure employing subjective social distance scales is proposed as an empirical strategy for assessing different forms of status consciousness and exploring their implications for class consciousness and other political and social attitudes. To evaluate the empirical and theoretical utility of this strategy, we report a West German replication of an American study in which substantial evidence is found for a remarkable degree of cross-national similarity in the subjective social distance responses accorded occupations varying in prestige and socioeconomic status, regardless of the class position of the respondent. Some working- and middle-class persons did, indeed, prefer to interact with members of their own class rather than with persons in higher- (or lower-) status occupations; and this manifestation of corp...