Social Status Attainment Research Articles

Networks and securing an internship during an environmental anomaly: the COVID-19 pandemic

PurposeThe outbreak of COVID-19 has caused a slowdown of economic activity across the globe, which has resulted in high levels of disruption to labour markets. This study seeks to examine how the outbreak of COVID-19 has impacted the search strategies of students seeking for an internship, and whether these have changed since the start of the pandemic. The study utilises the strength of weak ties hypothesis, social capital theory and status attainment theory to explore the changes in securing a position since the outbreak of COVID-19.Design/methodology/approachThis study draws on data from two cohorts of MBA students seeking to secure internships: one before the outbreak and one during. A multinomial regression is employed to examine how students have used network ties to secure internships and how this has changed since the outbreak of COVID-19.FindingsThe multinomial regression results indicate that there was little difference in the strategies employed by students before the crisis compared to those that secured them during, potentially indicating that students are unwilling to deviate from typical job search strategies, especially in times of uncertainty.Originality/valueThis study provides insights into how network ties are used by job seekers during a period of economic and environmental uncertainty.

A meta-analytic review of the associations of personality, intelligence, and physical size with social status.

Theories have proposed diverse reasons for why individual differences such as personality traits lead to social status attainment in face-to-face groups. We integrated these different theoretical standpoints into a model with four paths from individual differences to status: a dominance, a competence, a virtue, and a micropolitics path. To investigate these paths, we meta-analyzed over 100 years of research on bivariate associations of personality traits, cognitive abilities, and physical size with the attainment of status-related outcomes in face-to-face groups (1,064 effects from 276 samples including 56,153 participants). The status-related outcome variables were admiring respect, social influence, popularity (i.e., being liked by others), leadership emergence, and a mixture of outcome variables. The meta-analytic correlations we found were largely in line with the micropolitics path, tentatively in line with the competence and virtue paths, and only partly in line with the dominance path. These findings suggest that status attainment depends not only on the competence and virtue of an individual but also on how individuals can enhance their apparent competence or virtue by behaving assertively, by being extraverted, or through self-monitoring. We also investigated how the relations between individual differences and status-related outcomes were moderated by kind of status-related outcome, nature of the group task, culture (collectivism/individualism), and length of acquaintance. The moderation analysis yielded mixed and inconclusive results. The review ends with directions for research, such as the need to separately assess and study the different status-related outcomes. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

MAIN FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE JOB SATISFACTION

In modern societies, employment is a social phenomenon that is central to life. Those who find a job in the labour market spend most of their day working. Since paid work means both the acquisition of better economic resources and opportunities and the attainment of social status in society, workers' working conditions are of great importance for job satisfaction and thus for the quality of work and life. In this article, after discussing various definitions, the factors that determine the level of job satisfaction are examined in general terms. However, these factors, which have been identified by different researchers at different times, do not constitute a single entity. For this reason, after a brief evaluation of their measurement, the dependence of job satisfaction on influencing factors, the so-called correlates, will be analysed in depth using two different categories. The aim of the article is to present the content of a total of ten factors within the categories of work (place) and personal behaviour and the correlation between job satisfaction as a whole and, on the basis of an employment-friendly social policy, to create a decent working environment through these factors, which, as a result of a comprehensive analysis, leads to high job satisfaction.

Rites and Rituals of Iwa-Akwa as the Gateway to Manhood in Igboland

The African man does not just walk from a social status to the other as though he is walking from his house to his neighborhood. He celebrates his attainment of higher social class or status not only with an elaborate cultural celebration but also with the accompanying rites and rituals as he is ushered into the higher world with its expected responsibilities. This celebration is called the Rites of Passage. In Igboland, the rite of passage that ushers the male adolescents into adulthood or manhood is the 'Iwa-Akwa' ceremony, which takes place every three years. The rites and rituals associated with this ceremony are to effectively fortify the initiates into a new world of manhood, fatherhood, and indeed, the decision makers of the land expected to lead an exemplary lifestyle for the younger ones to copy. The rigours the initiates go through are to prepare them for the duties and demands of the society. It has its social, cultural, and religious significance. The work made use of documented and interview methods of data gathering while adopting a sociological study approach.

The Activation of Social Networks: Evidence from Corporate Political and Family Connections

Political connections are critical social capital to modern business, especially in emerging markets. Whether political connection triggers cost or benefits to connected firms is yet to be concluded. Instead, based on the theory of social status attainment, we propose that firms commit symbolic compliance (i.e., high-quality information disclosure) to activate the political rewards capital from political ties (i.e., state bank loans or government subsidies). We further theorize the complementary relationship between family and political capital in such an activation process. Contextualized in a panel dataset of Chinese private listed firms, we found solid supports for the compliance-exploitation actions by politically connected firms. Moreover, the political rewards become restrained whilst symbolic compliance tends to be stronger when the firm already has family capital. Overall, the study advances the literature on corporate political strategies by introducing the concept of political capital activation. It also presents new evidence of the complementary relationship between the political capital and family capital to corporate strategies.

Impact Assessment on Attainment of Social Status by MGNREGA Beneficiaries in Tamil Nadu

More than 60 per cent of total workforce in the country derives their livelihood from agriculture and high dependency on agriculture has caused decrease in per capita household income from farm sector and mechanization in agricultural production has resulted in lesser employment in the rural areas and causes poverty among the rural masses. MGNREGA is regarded as the largest public employment programme in the world, assures 100 days of work per year to all rural households. A sample size of 200 Beneficiaries with 40 Beneficiaries from each village was selected for the study. In Salem district Panamarathupatty block were purposively selected. The weighted mean score were analysed for each component and ranked based on the weighted mean scores. The results of overall attainment of social status of beneficiaries, shows that in personal status two-fifth of the beneficiaries (40.00 per cent) had high level followed by 35.50 per cent had medium level and one-fourth of the beneficiaries (24.50 per cent) had low level of attainment in personal status. In economic status majority of the beneficiaries (88.50 per cent) falls on medium to high level. The most of the beneficiaries (76.00 per cent) in the study area attained medium to high level of societal status in the society, the MGNREGA beneficiaries participate more in the panchayat programmes, discussion on new projects and planning of welfare activities in the panchayat. The scheme has a positive impact on the livelihood of wage labourers in the rural areas and it improves the socio-economic status of the unskilled workers in the village and also contributed to the non- migration of village unskilled workers to urban areas. The MGNREGA has made tangible impact on the livelihood of the people and empowered women to a large extend.

Bumiputera Graduate Entrepreneurs in Describing Social Status and Their Social Status Attainment Experience

Social status is essential to every individual whether they may or may not be aware of it and admit the importance of social status in their lives. Even in the case of Bumiputera graduates entrepreneurs, they acknowledged that social status is beneficial in businesses although some of them were reluctant to admit the importance of social status. That is not surprising because the Bumiputera has a culture of communicating indirectly. Being too honest is considered insensitive or rude. Interviews with seven Bumiputera graduate entrepreneurs in Klang Valley found that they have other ways to describe social status. To them, social status represents their view of themselves, their feeling of satisfaction, and the attention given to them. These elements change according to their achievements or failures in their lives. The model of social status attainment experience by the Bumiputera graduate entrepreneurs is also illustrated in this paper.

Why do young people engage in dating relationships during early adolescence? An inter-generational qualitative analysis from Blantyre, Malawi

Engagement in dating relationships plays an important role in the health trajectories of young people, particularly during the early adolescent period between ages 10–14. Yet little is known about such relationships among youth in low resource contexts. This study sought to contribute to the literature on this topic by exploring reasons why school-going young people aged 12–14 years engage in dating relationships in Blantyre, Malawi. A thematic analysis was used to code and analyse in-depth interview data from 23 young people and 19 caregivers. Against the backdrop of growing sexual desires and feelings of attraction, participants stressed harassment from boys and coercion from older men, peer pressure, social status attainment, financial deprivation and encouragement during initiation ceremonies as reasons for engaging in dating relationships. Girls were found to be subject to multiple power dynamics—including gender power relations, as well as power dynamics within same-gender peer groups—that influenced their sex and relationship involvement. These findings carry implications for the design and timing of sexual and reproductive health youth programmes in Sub-Saharan Africa and emphasise the need for multi-level interventions to address the multiple influences in young people’s dating lives.

Factors affecting quality of life among parents having a child with autism spectrum disorder in Jeddah, 2019 (cross-sectional study)

Nurturing a child with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) can cause major distress. As a result, these parents tend to experience a poor quality of life (QoL) compared to those raising typically developing (TD) children.To evaluate the factors which affect the QoL of parents raising children clinically-diagnosed with ASD in Jeddah, and to provide knowledge for the establishment of comprehensive policies and projects that can improve their mental well-being.A cross-sectional study design was utilized to assess 200 parents of children clinically-diagnosed with ASD at least 3 months prior to the research. A self-administered WHOQOL-BREF questionnaire was employed to assess the QoL of participants through four domains, namely physical health, psychological well-being, social relationships, and environment.Most of the participants were female (58.5%), married (87.0%), and employed (56.5%). Majority completed high school (68.5%), lived in the city (95.5%) and rented their homes (88.5%). Quality of life was significantly affected by gender, employment, social status, and educational attainment of participants. Parents with higher educational attainment and employment and social status exhibited better. Furthermore, female parents experienced lower QoL and more depressive symptoms than males.Gender, educational attainment, and both employment and social status significantly affected the QoL of parents raising children diagnosed with ASD. Furthermore, improving the physical health, psychological, social relationships, and environment of these parents would give them a better QoL and health satisfaction.

Can Individual Agency Compensate for Background Disadvantage? Predicting Tertiary Educational Attainment among Males and Females

Adolescent agency has been identified as a central aspect in the study of social mobility and status attainment. There is however still a lack of understanding of (a) how different SES dimensions influence the expression of multiple dimensions of agency; (b) the interplay of SES and adolescent agency in shaping adult outcomes; and (c) variations in these associations by gender. Focusing on educational mobility, this study adopts a multiple exposure multiple outcome approach specifying the associations between multiple SES dimensions and multiple indicators of domain-specific agency and their relative role as predictors of educational attainment, also testing for potential gender differences. The study draws on data collected for the nationally representative Longitudinal Study of Young People in England, comprising 6719 individuals born in 1989/90 (48% female; 85% first generation students; 15% ethnic minority status). The findings show that multiple SES indicators independently influence the expression of different agency dimensions, in particular regarding educational intentions and success expectations. Moreover, multiple dimensions of education-related agency are significant predictors of enrolment in university by age 20 and degree completion by age 25, after controlling for family SES, ethnicity, and prior academic attainment. The evidence points to mainly independent agency effects and provides some support for compensatory effects regarding school engagement. Although females report higher levels of education-related agency, the manifestation of agency benefits both males and females equally. The findings suggest that critical insights into social mobility processes can be gained when using more complex models that take into account multiple dimensions of SES and agency and their interactions over time.

Adolescent Adversity, School Attendance and Academic Achievement: School Connection and the Potential for Mitigating Risk.

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) may be particularly impactful for the learning environment. The purpose of this study was to examine relationships between ACEs and 3 education-related outcomes, no plan to graduate, past month unexcused absences, and low academic achievement, outcomes linked to poor prospects for future social status attainment and by extension, health. Data are from 9th and 11th grade participants in the 2016 Minnesota Student Survey (N=81,885). Logistic regression was used to determine if individual and cumulative measures for 10 types of ACEs were significantly associated with education-related outcomes in analytic models adjusting for demographic and individual factors. Final analytic models tested for moderation of relationships between ACEs and adverse education outcomes by student school connection. Analyses were stratified by sex. Multiple types of ACEs were significantly associated with each adverse education outcome. Relationships between some types of ACEs and education outcomes were marginally attenuated by school connection. Among high school students, experiences of adversity were significantly associated with scholastic outcomes that portend limited prospects for health and status attainment in adulthood. Strategies for strengthening student school connection may be relevant for supporting youth resilience, and the potential for better stability in adulthood.

The social advantage of miscalibrated individuals: The relationship between social class and overconfidence and its implications for class-based inequality.

[Correction Notice: An Erratum for this article was reported online in Journal of Personality and Social Psychology on Jul 8 2019 (see record 2019-40421-001). In the article, the first sentence in the Social class, perceived competence, and status attainment section is incorrect due to a printer error and should read instead as follows: Hypothesis 4 predicted that relative to individuals with lower social class, individuals with relatively high social class would be more overconfident, which in turn, would be associated with higher competence ratings, and ultimately, higher hiring ratings. All versions of this article have been corrected.] Understanding how socioeconomic inequalities perpetuate is a central concern among social and organizational psychologists. Drawing on a collection of findings suggesting that different social class contexts have powerful effects on people's sense of self, we propose that social class shapes the beliefs that people hold about their abilities, and that this, in turn, has important implications for how status hierarchies perpetuate. We first hypothesize that compared with individuals with relatively low social class, individuals with relatively high social class are more overconfident. Then, drawing on research suggesting that overconfidence can confer social advantages, we further hypothesize that the overconfidence of higher class individuals can help perpetuate the existing class hierarchy: It can provide them a path to social advantage by making them appear more competent in the eyes of others. We test these ideas in four large studies with a combined sample of 152,661 individuals. Study 1, a large field study featuring small-business owners from Mexico, found evidence that individuals with relatively high social class are more overconfident compared with their lower-class counterparts. Study 2, a multiwave study in the United States, replicated this result and further shed light on the underlying mechanism: Individuals with relatively high (vs. low) social class tend to be more overconfident because they have a stronger desire to achieve high social rank. Study 3 replicated these findings in a high-powered, preregistered study and found that individuals with relatively high social class were more overconfident, even in a task in which they had no performance advantages. Study 4, a multiphase study that featured a mock job interview in the laboratory, found that compared with their lower-class counterparts, higher-class individuals were more overconfident; overconfidence, in turn, made them appear more competent and more likely to attain social rank. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

"The social advantage of miscalibrated individuals: The relationship between social class and overconfidence and its implications for class-based inequality": Correction to Belmi et al. (2019).

Reports an error in "The social advantage of miscalibrated individuals: The relationship between social class and overconfidence and its implications for class-based inequality" by Peter Belmi, Margaret A. Neale, David Reiff and Rosemary Ulfe (Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Advanced Online Publication, May 20, 2019, np). In the article, the first sentence in the Social class, perceived competence, and status attainment section is incorrect due to a printer error and should read instead as follows: Hypothesis 4 predicted that relative to individuals with lower social class, individuals with relatively high social class would be more overconfident, which in turn, would be associated with higher competence ratings, and ultimately, higher hiring ratings. All versions of this article have been corrected. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2019-25778-001.) Understanding how socioeconomic inequalities perpetuate is a central concern among social and organizational psychologists. Drawing on a collection of findings suggesting that different social class contexts have powerful effects on people's sense of self, we propose that social class shapes the beliefs that people hold about their abilities, and that this, in turn, has important implications for how status hierarchies perpetuate. We first hypothesize that compared with individuals with relatively low social class, individuals with relatively high social class are more overconfident. Then, drawing on research suggesting that overconfidence can confer social advantages, we further hypothesize that the overconfidence of higher class individuals can help perpetuate the existing class hierarchy: It can provide them a path to social advantage by making them appear more competent in the eyes of others. We test these ideas in four large studies with a combined sample of 152,661 individuals. Study 1, a large field study featuring small-business owners from Mexico, found evidence that individuals with relatively high social class are more overconfident compared with their lower-class counterparts. Study 2, a multiwave study in the United States, replicated this result and further shed light on the underlying mechanism: Individuals with relatively high (vs. low) social class tend to be more overconfident because they have a stronger desire to achieve high social rank. Study 3 replicated these findings in a high-powered, preregistered study and found that individuals with relatively high social class were more overconfident, even in a task in which they had no performance advantages. Study 4, a multiphase study that featured a mock job interview in the laboratory, found that compared with their lower-class counterparts, higher-class individuals were more overconfident; overconfidence, in turn, made them appear more competent and more likely to attain social rank. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Students’ social origins, educational process and post-college outcomes: The case of an elite Chinese university

Scholars debate whether and how higher education and elite education experiences break or reinforce the link between social origins and status attainment in meritocratic societies. We contribute to these debates focusing on post-college outcomes of elite university students in contemporary China. Using a longitudinal survey of the 2014 freshmen cohort from an elite Chinese university and a sequential logit modeling technique, we find that meritocracy is seemingly at play between the trajectories of graduate study and employment. However, within each trajectory, students’ hukou (urban/rural registration status) and regional backgrounds significantly constrain their post-college options, partly through differential participation in high-impact educational practices. Furthermore, social origins leave marks on students’ motives for graduate study.

Parental Incarceration and Social Status Attainment of Hispanic Young Adults

The fact that parental incarceration has become a common event in the life course of many children is troubling. Using structural equation modeling, the present study investigates how immigrant generational status and family socioeconomic background interact with parental incarceration to influence status attainment for Hispanic young adults. Three indicators of status attainment in young adulthood are used as outcome variables—educational attainment, wage, and job quality. Results indicate that parental incarceration has a strong and negative influence on all three indicators of attained status. Most importantly, we found that parental incarceration mediates influence of immigrant generational status and family socioeconomic background on status attainment of Hispanic young adults.

Optimal Dynamic Taxation with Distinctive Forms of Social Status Attainment

AbstractWe examine the role of both consumption‐ and wealth‐induced social comparisons in setting dynamic optimal income taxation. Under complete information, state‐invariant labor income taxes are used to remedy the externality caused by consumption‐induced social comparisons, while state‐contingent capital income taxes are used to remedy the externalities caused by both consumption‐ and wealth‐induced social comparisons. Under incomplete information, distinct types of agents are subject to an identical marginal capital income tax, which removes social comparisons. To solve the information problem, low‐productivity agents could be subject to a lower marginal labor tax than high‐productivity agents, which contradicts the traditional result in the Mirrlees–Stiglitz models.

The Cost of Status: When Social and Economic Interests Collide

Although researchers have devoted considerable attention to assessing how organizations benefit from ascriptions of high status, relatively little research has analyzed the financial costs that organizations may incur in actively managing such ascriptions. In this study, we analyze how and why organizations may pay a relatively steep economic price for the attainment and/or maintenance of social status. Specifically, we advance an original theoretical perspective, which suggests that firms engaged in economic competition are simultaneously engaged in social ceremony and that these dual processes can generate a combination of social gains (in terms of status) and economic losses (in terms of profitability). We theorize and test our perspective in the context of competitive bidding ceremonies using a unique, decade-long data set on repeated competitive market interactions among firms in the U.S. construction industry. We find support for our prediction that firms’ participation in bidding ceremonies can generate divergent outcomes, that is, higher social status and diminished economic performance. We discuss the implications of our theoretical and empirical analysis for the existing literature on social status, competitive bidding, and—more generally—on the role social forces play in competitive market behaviors and outcomes.

Has Migration Been Beneficial for Migrants and Their Children?

The study compares the social mobility and status attainment of first-and second-generation Turks in nine Western European countries with those of Western European natives and with those of Turks in Turkey. It shows that the children of low-class migrants are more likely to acquire a higher education than their counterparts in Turkey, making them more educationally mobile. Moreover, they successfully convert this education in the Western European labor market, and are upwardly mobile relative to the first generation. When comparing labor market outcomes of second generations relative to Turks in Turkey, however, the results show that the same level of education leads to a higher occupation in Turkey. The implications of these findings are discussed.

Canaries in the mine? Gay community, consumption and aspiration in neoliberal Washington, DC

Gay men have been implicated in neoliberal urban development strategies (e.g. the creative city) as a ‘canary’ population that forecasts growth. Paradoxically, both neoliberal re-development of North American inner-cities and the ways in which gay men become neoliberalised as individuals contribute to the dissolution of urban gay communities. In contrast to discourses of homonormativity, which suggest that gay men’s declining attachments to gay communities stem from new equalities and consequent desires to assimilate into the mainstream, this article argues that gay men in DC have internalised neoliberal discourses that call for career development, home ownership and social hypermobilities. The narratives of 24 gay-identified men living in DC indicate that the social and spatial dissolution of the gay community is linked with individual aspirations that are increasingly difficult to achieve. These aspirations include career advancement in a transient local economy, property ownership in an out-of-reach market, and the attainment of social status based on an ability to move through multiple neighbourhoods and venues with ease. As might be expected, African American and working class men are often left beyond the fray of these new neoliberal ideals.

The interaction of testosterone and cortisol is associated with attained status in male executives.

Are hormone levels associated with the attainment of social status? Although endogenous testosterone predicts status-seeking social behaviors, research suggests that the stress hormone cortisol may inhibit testosterone's effects. Thus, individuals with both high testosterone and low cortisol may be especially likely to occupy high-status positions in social hierarchies while individuals with high testosterone and high cortisol may not. We tested this hypothesis by recruiting a sample of real executives and examining testosterone, cortisol, and a concrete indicator of attained status: the number of subordinates over which the executive has authority. Despite the myriad nonhormonal factors that determine organizational promotion, the executives' endogenous testosterone and cortisol interacted to significantly predict hierarchical position: Testosterone positively predicted executives' number of subordinates, but only among low-cortisol executives. The results imply that reducing cortisol levels via stress reduction may be a critical goal not only because doing so will improve health but also because doing so may enhance leadership potential. (PsycINFO Database Record