STATUS STRATIFICATION IN A PLANNED COMMUNITY.

Social scientists are displaying increasing interest in social stratification. Since the concept is very broad, much progress cannot be made in analyzing it unless the different factors upon which it is based are singled out and their interrelations then noted. Although this has been theoretically recognized,further studies in specific areas of stratification are needed to refine stratification theory. This paper describes the status or prestige structure of a planned community and proposes an empirical method of finding the factors upon which status is built. These have been purported objects of several studies. Most of them focus, however, on small, old, stable, and integrated localities or groups. Also, they confuse general stratification with other types of stratification, or they concentrate on general "social" stratification without regarding the elements that make it up. Under these circumstances it is not surprising that many similarities are found not only in the outlines of status structures but also in the factors underlying them, such as wealth, ancestry, length of residence, occupation, ethnic factors, style of living, and so forth.