Social Grading of Occupations.

The article traces the changes in social class by changes in occupation through a preliminary examination of the social grading of occupations in England and Wales. A survey of a large random sample of the population on a nationwide scale is being carried out in order to discover possible evidence of class mobility by change of occupational grade with changing circumstances, also by comparing the grades of parents and their children, and by change of grade on the part of women on marriage if the grade of occupation of the husband differs from that of the wife's father. The grade of occupation first entered is largely determined by educational opportunity, and particulars as to education as well as occupation will be collected in the random sample survey. The inference to be drawn from the examination of this material is that there is no major difference of opinion among those we have tested as to the social grading of selected occupations. While there may be minor differences in judgment and in variability of judgment between men and women, young and old, drawn from different social levels, in their ranking of certain occupations or grades of occupation, these differences on the average do not appear to be highly significant.