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Address Forms Used by Members of a Department Store *
Author(s) -
STAPLES LUCY M.,
ROBINSON W. P.
Publication year - 1974
Publication title -
british journal of social and clinical psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.479
H-Index - 92
eISSN - 2044-8260
pISSN - 0007-1293
DOI - 10.1111/j.2044-8260.1974.tb00100.x
Subject(s) - solidarity , friendship , psychology , face (sociological concept) , social psychology , rank (graph theory) , function (biology) , power (physics) , association (psychology) , sociology , mathematics , politics , political science , combinatorics , social science , physics , quantum mechanics , evolutionary biology , law , biology , psychotherapist
Address forms are one readily observed index of the nature of social relationships among participants in face‐to‐face interactions. Previous work has related asymmetry of forms to differences in power and status, and symmetrical use of ‘informal’ forms to solidarity and friendship. In this study address forms given to and received from members of the same and different ranks in a hierarchically ordered department store are shown to vary as a function of situation and the relative rather than absolute status of participants. Asymmetry of address forms appears to be mainly a matter of rank rather than age. Discrepancies between expected and received forms are interpreted as a result of high‐status persons maximizing differentials and of low‐status persons minimizing them.