ETHNIC OCCUPATIONAL STATUSES

As Everett C. Hughes has pointed out, every status, including occupational statuses, has both specifically determining traits and "auxiliary traits which have come to be expected of its incumbents".1 The determining trait of the physician, for example, is the license to practice medicine. However, physicians in the United States are also expected to be white, male, Protestant, and of "American" stock. In this paper, we extend the concept of "auxiliary traits" and use it to distinguish between general occupational statuses and ethnic occupa tional statuses. Furthermore, we explore some of the career alternatives open to ethnic individuals, stressing the consequences of occupying an ethnic occupational status. Finally, we discuss the relevance of the status as a situational determinant of behavior.