Abstract
For a class of social actions such as seeking a job, the socioeconomic standings of the contact (social resources) an individual uses will probably be very important in achieving a desired result. Drawing upon data from a sample of working males aged 21-64 in the metropolitan area of Albany-Troy-Schenactady, New York, we found that the job seeker's personal resources (initially his family background, but more importantly later his educational and occupational achievements) as well as his use of weak ties affect his ability to reach a contact of high status. The contact's job status, in turn, has a strong and direct effect on the prestige of the attained job. As job experience increases, a person relies more on constructed rather than ascribed relations and the strong tie between his contact and the hiring firm becomes increasingly important.
Keywords
Occupational prestigePrestigeSocioeconomic statusMetropolitan areaSocial statusAffect (linguistics)Status attainmentPsychologyInterpersonal tiesDemographic economicsSocial psychologySocial classSocial contactSample (material)SociologyPolitical scienceGeographyEconomicsSocial scienceDemography
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Publication Info
- Year
- 2019
- Type
- book-chapter
- Citations
- 1023
- Access
- Closed
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Cite This
Nan Lin,
Walter M. Ensel,
John C. Vaughn
(2019).
Social Resources and Strength of Ties: Structural Factors in Occupational Status Attainment.
Edward Elgar Publishing eBooks
.
https://doi.org/10.4337/9781789907285.00008
Identifiers
- DOI
- 10.4337/9781789907285.00008