Images and predication: The use of subjective occupational hierarchies

While subjective models of the occupational world are important to theories of social mobility, they have proven resistent to systematic study. One approach to this problem involves having subjects construct a hierarchical tree by successively choosing most similar pairs & groups. Review of the formation of such a ranking by one male subject, including both the hierarchy formed & the reasons given for each decision, shows the method to yield a surprising amount of information, & to be useful, manageable, & enjoyable. Significant information is located at different levels of generality in the hierarchy & in local structure, & is not, as often supposed, a simple matter of dominance. 2 Figures, Appendix. Modified HA.