Two frequently used composite indices of social class, the Hollingshead Two Factor index and the Duncan SEI, are critically analyzed, both conceptually and methodologically, using data secured from two national samples. Although both indices are based on occupation, comparison of their scores shows several types of work are differentially evaluated. The findings suggest that the Duncan SEI suffers from weaknesses which undermine its usefulness, while the Hollingshead index requires updating. Thus there is a need for a valid index based on the theoretical distinction between class and status, and adapted to current structural realities. Although social class is often a critical factor in sociological research, either as a major analytic variable or as a principal control, there is no measure of class generally agreed upon or utilized by American sociologists. An informal survey of articles from 1963 through 1968 in the American Sociological Review, for example, reveals that many researchers evaluated socioeconomic distinctions by a single blue-collar/ white-collar, or middle-class/ working-class dichotomy. Others made various groupings of census occupation categories. Another type of analysis developed some contrived index, often combining income, rent, education or occupational levels on an ad hoc basis. The two most frequently utilized composite indices were (1) the Hollingshead Two Factor Index, which appeared six times in its original form and made five additional appearances in a modified form, and (2) the Duncan Socio-Economic Index (SEI), which turned up ten times. This variety is at least partly a consequence of the fuzzy conceptualization of class which has plagued the discipline. The Marxian view that class position is a function of relation to the means of production has been rejected as * Revision of papers read at the annual meeting of the Ohio Valley Sociological Society, South Bend, Indiana, April 1967, and the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association, Boston, Massachusetts, August 1968. Project supported by RSA RD-1726-P-68-63. This content downloaded from 157.55.39.151 on Thu, 07 Jul 2016 05:01:20 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms