The Status Attainment Process: a Test of a Model in Two Stratification Systems.

This paper examines how variations in status crystallization influence the status attainment process in two stratification systems: the kibbutz and the urban population in Israel. The first is an example of a weakly crystallized system; the second of a moderately crystallized one. The findings provide support for the proposition that in weakly crystallized systems status dimensions tend to affect only variables which measure equivalent dimensions, that is, corresponding variables, with minimal radiation of effects to noncorresponding ones. This pattern has been observed in the application of the status attainment model to the kibbutz. In the urban sample the pattern of effects is uneven. While there is a partial tendency of status dimensions to have a stronger effect on noncorresponding variables, the discrepancy between corresponding and noncorresponding effects is small. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]