Status Generalization: A Review and Some New Data

Theoretical developments and empirical evidence over the past two and a half decades are reviewed with an attempt to assess the state of sociological knowledge about how, and conditions under which, external status characteristics of individuals affect their face-to-face interaction. This review des...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:American sociological review 1978-04, Vol.43 (2), p.220-236
Main Authors: Webster, Murray, Driskell, James E.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Black people
Burden of proof
College students
Generalization
Prestige
Social interaction
Social psychology
Statistical variance
Test theory
Training
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Summary:Theoretical developments and empirical evidence over the past two and a half decades are reviewed with an attempt to assess the state of sociological knowledge about how, and conditions under which, external status characteristics of individuals affect their face-to-face interaction. This review describes the development of expectation states theory, which assumes a burden of proof process by which initially unrelated status characteristics become relevant to task performance, and task specific expectations determine patterns of interaction. Three versions of the theory, with increasing scope, are described and evidence relevant to them is summarized. Data from an independent test of the most recent version are presented, and the review concludes with a summary of knowledge and some suggestions for applications of the theory of status generalization effects.
ISSN:0003-1224
DOI:10.2307/2094700