The Rationale for a Composite Index of Social Class and Its Evaluation

Abstract

Occupational status is widely accepted as a valid index of social class. Its strength lies in the fact that it is highly predictive of many social and economic inequalities. This characteristic is also its main weakness, however, in terms of its power to 'explain' social class differences. The dependence on occupation alone to obtain a social stratification ranking also means that only economically active members of society can be classified reliably. Thus housewives, the unemployed and the retired may often only be classified according to a past occupation or the occupations of others, e.g. husbands or other heads of households who are employed. In addition, occupational classifications are likely to have different socio-economic implications for women than for men. It is suggested here that social class is a multi-dimensional phenomenon of which occupational status is one important aspect and an alternative Social Index is proposed which makes use of several variables hypothesized as being indices of a common socioeconomic dimension. A comparison of occupational status with this alternative Social Index in a study of child development reveals the advantages of using a compound rather than a single measure of social stratification. These advantages include a social ranking for economically inactive persons and achieving greater discriminatory power in the specific context of child development. I NT R 0 D U CT I 0 N Social class is probably the most commonly used analytic variable in social research and the index of class is almost invariably occupation classified on a hierarchically ordered scale. The use of occupation classifications is so taken for granted in many research contexts that 'occupational status' has become for many synonymous with 'social class' . The exclusive use of occupation as a measure of social class has, in BritishJournal of Sociology Volume3o Number I March s979 ¢ R.K.P. 1979 ooo7 1315/79/3001-oo39 $1.50/