Premium
Inequality and Occupational Prestige: Theory, Research, and Social Policy *
Author(s) -
BARBER Bernard
Publication year - 1978
Publication title -
sociological inquiry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.446
H-Index - 51
eISSN - 1475-682X
pISSN - 0038-0245
DOI - 10.1111/j.1475-682x.1978.tb01012.x
Subject(s) - prestige , occupational prestige , inequality , scarcity , positive economics , sociology , empirical research , dimension (graph theory) , social inequality , economics , neoclassical economics , social science , epistemology , microeconomics , mathematics , philosophy , mathematical analysis , population , linguistics , demography , socioeconomic status , pure mathematics
Occupational prestige is one important dimension of social inequality. Building on past theory and especially on excellent recent empirical research in this area, a new theory is presented. This new theory criticizes some assumptions of older theories of occupational prestige with regard to motivation and to the scarcity of human talent. Finally, using the new theory, some small suggestions are given for social policy to reduce inequality based on occupational prestige.