Significant Social Class Differences Research Articles

Racial Discrimination in Occupations Perceived and Actual

TrfHE MAJOR PURPOSE OF THIS STUDY is to determine the relationship between the actual representation of blacks in certain important occupations and individual perceptions of discrimination against blacks in those same occupations. That is, we are attempting to relate the perceived occupational opportunity structure to the real occupational opportunity structure in American society. Occupational opportunity structure refers to the openness of availability of various occupations to individuals possessing certain characteristics which are, in fact, differentially distributed among various occupations. In this study individual perceptions (i.e., subjective ratings) of the difference that race makes in the opportunity to enter various occupations were measured. These ratings were then correlated with the actual percentage of blacks in those same occupations, according to census reports. In a previous report using the data upon which this paper is based, we found that black university students perceived significantly more occupalional discrimination against black people than did white students; there were no significant sex or social class differences.' That black students perceived more racial discrimination than did white students, however, reveals nothing about the accuracy of these perceptions. The black students, for example, may have overestimated the degree of occupational discrimination. It is important to assess the accuracy of such perceptions because sensitivity to discrimination may have important personality and behavioral consequences.2

Social class differentials in the store selection process of single black professional women

Black single professional women form a growing and little researched market. This study hypothesized that there are significant social class differences in prepurchase store screening and in actual store choice process. Findings indicated that there were significant differences among groups in preplanning the number of garments, using catalogues, and seeking information from sales clerks. There were no significant differences in types of stores patronized, and store loyalty appeared low overall. It was concluded, both in prepurchase screening and during purchases, that social class played almost no significant role in store selection. However it appeared that single black professional women, unlike other nonblack samples studied, tended to rely on store characteristics and features more than on informational search and process or an all-out store search. If additional comparative studies substantiate this finding, there are strong implications for retailing strategies.

Perceived Parental Acceptance-Rejection and Personality Organization Among Mexican and American Elementary School Children

We administered the Parental Acceptance-Rejection Questionnaire (PARQ) and the Personality Assessment Questionnaire ( PAQ) to 175 elementary school children in Monterrey, Mexico. We compared the results of the same tests given to 220 elementary school children in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. The Monterrey children perceive their parents as more rejecting and report themselves more negaticely in terms of certam per sonality dispositions than do the Washington, D.C. children. The results of these comparisons conform both with expectations derived from the literature on Mexican family and personality organization and with those derived from parental acceptance-rejection theory. We obtained significant social class differences only within the Mexican sample: middle class Mon terrey school children perceive their parents as more rejecting and report their own behavior in more negative terms than do working class children. We discuss these results in terms of middle class versus working class family structure.

Social class differences in the apparel purchase behavior of single, professional black women

Single professional black women are becoming a separate and powerful segment in the total apparel market. This study explores whether or not there are significant social class differences in their apparel purchase behavior in regard to social classes. Apparel purchase behavior has been analyzed in terms of three-areas: purchase planning, method of payment and social influence. In most cases, class differences were not found to be statistically significant with the exception of social influence. It was found that social classes respond quite differently to social influences in their clothing selection.

Social Class and Association Membership: An Analysis of Age-graded and Non-age-graded Voluntary Participation

This paper examines the relationship between social class and both age-graded and non-age-graded voluntary association membership in a sample of 320 older people. Special attention is focused on one age-graded association with an examination of recruitment, participation, and attrition over a 6-year period. No significant social class differences were found in the tendency to hold at least one association membership, or in the tendency to be extensively involved in voluntary associations. Higher class individuals, however, were more likely to belong to age graded associations. There were no significant class differences between new members and those who failed to join as the result of an aggressive peer recruitment effort by members of one "senior center." Similarly, for those who joined there were no class differences in participation or attrition over a 6-year period.

The linguistic maturity of 11-year-olds: some analysis of the written compositions of children in the National Child Development Study

ABSTRACTThe written compositions of 11-year-olds in the National Child Development Study were analysed using the T-unit length (Hunt 1965) as a measure of syntactic maturity, and composition length as a measure of productivity. Only a weak association was found between mean T-unit length (MTUL) and composition length. There were no statistically significant regional differences in either composition length or MTUL. There were statistically significant sex and social class differences in composition length but not in MTUL. Composition length was associated with Reading Comprehension, General Ability test scores, and teachers' ratings of certain scholastic aptitudes. MTUL was associated only slightly or not at all with these measures. The results are discussed in relation to cognitive and linguistic development.

Cerebral lateralization of speech: The effects of age, sex, race, and socioeconomic class

This study attempted to discover what effects the variables of age, sex, race, and socioeconomic class have on ear asymmetry. A significant right ear superiority was found at all ages studied; 5, 7, 9, and 11 yr of age. Males were found to develop essentially the same as females and white children develop the same as black children on dichotic listening tasks, which were utilized as the criteria measures of ear asymmetry. There were significant social class differences found, the middle class S's showing a significantly greater degree of asymmetry than their lower class counterparts. All ages in both social classes, however, showed a significant right-left difference in favor of the right ear. Precise methodological controls were utilized and their relevance discussed. Possible explanations for discrepant findings between the present study and other research are also discussed.

Prevalence of behaviour problems in 3-year-old children: an epidemiological study in a London borough.

Summary In an epidemiological study of the behaviour of a 1 in 4 sample of 3‐year‐old children living in a North London Borough, it was found that 7 per cent had a behaviour problem winch was moderate or severe. A further 15 per cent had mild behaviour problems. There were no significant social class differences. Boys were significantly more likely to be overactive, to be wetting at night and during the day, to be soiling and to have relapsed in sphincter control after a period of being clean or dry. Girls were more likely to be fearful: there were no other sex differences in the frequency of problem behaviour.

A Developmental Study of the Acquisition of some Moral Concepts in Children Aged 7 to 15

Summary An investigation was carried out to ascertain how 700 children aged seven to 15 (half boys and half girls), acquired the ability to define certain moral concepts, how they decided on whether an action was right or wrong, and what influenced the acquisitional process. The results showed older age‐groups gaining significantly higher mean scores in defining concepts, with a sex difference favouring girls, but no significant social class differences. However, even older age‐groups encountered difficulties with some concepts, e.g. ‘doing right’ and ‘being good’. In deciding whether an action was right or wrong, more older children claimed they decided for themselves, and a significantly higher number of older girls stated that they did so. The sample claimed that their mothers had been a major influence in acquiring moral concepts, much more so than peer‐groups. The mass media was not thought by the sample to be accepted uncritically, and the church was believed to help them most. Evidence from this research would suggest that the teacher's contribution, to the acquisition of moral concepts during the early school years, seems highly relevant.

Social Class Differences in Language Predictability: Written

Two cloze-tests were constructed from written essays encoded by 80 first-year university students of middle-class and working-class origin. In a second experimental situation, 46 tertiary subjects were asked to ‘fill in’ the missing cloze deletions of these written passages. Within the terms of the Bernstein elaborated-restricted code framework it was posited that, since working class language is thought to be characterized by greater lexical and structural predictability, these passages would facilitate the decoding task. The analysis was based firstly on a ‘verbatim’ cloze completion criterion and secondly utilized an information theory approach. Results on the first criterion indicated significant social class differences (higher predictability of working-class messages on lexical and total cloze deletions); whereas those on the second criterion were nonsignificant. Possible implications of the study for teaching were explored.

Social Class and the Treatment of Alcoholic Patients

In contrast with the results of earlier studies in other locations, no significant social-class differences were found in the quality or quantity of treatment given to 1061 White male voluntary fir...

SUPPRESSION OF HETERO‐SEXUAL INTEREST AND OF AGGRESSION BY MIDDLE CLASS AND WORKING CLASS GRAMMAR SCHOOL BOYS

Summary. A short summary is given of the literature relating to social class differences in attitudes to sex and aggression and to the influence of social mobility on working class attitudes. The sample and the methods of investigation are described. The results are discussed. They show significant social class differences regarding suppression of hetero‐sexual interest but no differences regarding suppression of aggression, and indicate that neither intelligence nor social mobility affect the attitudes under consideration. They also seem to show that the young adolescent boys, who formed the sample of this investigation, like girls in theory rather than in practice, and react to frustration inwardly in their thoughts and feelings rather than in overt behaviour.

Social class differences in health and survival during the first two years of life; the results of a national survey

Summary This paper compares social class differences in mortality and morbidity in a national sample of 5380 children born in March 1946 and followed up when they were 2 years old. There are significant social class differences in mortality during the first year but not during the second. If all classes had the same mortality rates as the well-to-do, some 4000 lives would be saved in the first month of life and 6300 in the rest of the first year. A considerable part of social class differences in mortality during the first month is explained by the higher proportion of light-weight babies born to poor mothers; between 4 weeks and I year they are explained by deaths from pneumonia and gastro-enteritis, which are most frequent in the least prosperous classes. Evidence, considered elsewhere and summarized here, suggests that the high proportion of light-weight births in the poorer classes may be in part attributed to early childbearing, close spacing of births, and excessive work (either inside or outside th...