Occupational Hierarchy: Comparison of Status and Personal Esteem in Sociological Psychological Perspective
Abstract
The article presents results of social-psychological research focused on prestige of 37 occupations in the Czech society. The survey included 642 respondents, 280 men and 362 women.
In contrast to sociological research on occupation prestige which often confuse prestige and respect, our research focuses on both variables separately. Results in the two scales differ (personal respect scores higher than prestige) and, therefore, we argue for more precise operationalization of occupation prestige that would rule out confusion with personal respect.
We anchor a rationale for differentiation between prestige and respect in the relationship among an individual, group and social system. We tested whether in relation to occupation evaluation, the relationship corresponds more to the theory of social identity than to the theory of system justification.
The results indicate a different mechanism for different groups of respondents with respect to gender/sex and education.