Status Characteristics and Performance Expectations: A Reformulation

Status characteristics theory predicts the emergence and structure of power and prestige orders in task groups from members' status attributes. This paper argues that application of the burden of proof assumption, central to the theory, is inconsistent with a key concept, generalized expectatio...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Sociological theory 2002-03, Vol.20 (1), p.24-40
Main Authors: Simpson, Brent, Walker, Henry A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Burden of proof
Competency based education
Gender
Gender performativity
Group dynamics
History, theory and methodology
Inequality
Logical givens
Mathematical functions
Parsimony
Power
Power Structure
Prestige
Race
Saliency
Social Inequality
Social interaction
Social Status
Sociological theories
Sociology
Specific performance
Task Oriented Groups
Task Performance
Theory
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Status characteristics theory predicts the emergence and structure of power and prestige orders in task groups from members' status attributes. This paper argues that application of the burden of proof assumption, central to the theory, is inconsistent with a key concept, generalized expectation state. A reformulation is proposed that eliminates the inconsistency and gives competing predictions for a wide range of situations. The reformulation predicts that, when not directly relevant to task performance, specific characteristics (e.g., athletic or analytical ability) have less impact than diffuse characteristics (race, gender, or education) on performance expectations. The original formulation predicts equal effects. Critical tests are proposed and the paper concludes with additional comparisons of the two formulations on the grounds of parsimony and implications for intervention in settings characterized by status-based inequalities.
ISSN:0735-2751
1467-9558
DOI:10.1111/1467-9558.00149