National Comparisons of Occupational Prestige

Abstract

The prestige accorded by popular opinion to comparable occupations is compared in six industrialized countries: Unites States, Great Britain, New Zealand, Japan, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, and Germany. High correlations are found, indicating that the occupations are ranked in a relatively standard hierarchy, despite the cultural differencs among the six nations. An interpretation is offered in terms of the universal features of the industrial occupational system and the centralized national state to be found in each nation. Variations in prestige as between one country and another center mainly about the agricultural and service occupations.