On the Intersubjectivity of Occupational Status Evaluations: A Test of a Key Assumption Underlying the “Wisconsin Model” of Status Attainment

In the twelve years since the publication of Blau and Duncan's classic study, The American Occupational Structure, work on intergenerational manpower flows in an urban–industrial society has been moving towards explanations fully adequate in the sense of Weber or Schutz. Especially notable are the empirically based model-building efforts of Sewell and his associates at Wisconsin and elsewhere. The results of these efforts seem rich with promise. Nevertheless, as the “Wisconsin” status attainment findings are usually interpreted, they rest on a very strong assumption about the collective consciousness of actors within a society. This assumption is that each actor carries within his or her memory a status-differentiated conception of the occupational structure of the society, and every actor's conception agrees with every other actor's conception. Unless this assumption, perhaps with suitable minor qualifications, is at least approximately satisfied, the results generated by the status attainment research tradition are not understandable in the terms in which they typically have been set forth. The present paper reports a direct test of this pivotal assumption. The results show the assumption to be satisfied to a substantial degree. There does appear to be ample individual-level consensus in occupational status evaluations.