An Intra-Industry Application of Occupational Situs.

Although status attainment research has largely ignored the existence and importance of any situs (i.e., non-hierarchical) dimension, recognizing situs may help clarify the nature of occupational differentiation, recruitment, and mobility within a specific industrial sector. The agriculture sector of the U.S. economy, for example, can be classified as production, education/research, and agribusiness. Discriminant analysis of questionnaires showed residence preference to be a (situs) dimension countermanding societal and monetary status when a career as producer was chosen by ag-career undergraduates in 15 Southern land-grant colleges (1067 white males of a 15% 1977 sample). In contrast, the education/research oriented men opted for more education and had more prior ag education experiences than the agribusiness oriented. The status range from mid-rank farm manager to laborer in production agriculture compared in the same region (Cosby & Frank 1978) with the higher ranges of educators and agribusinessmen (professor, ag agent, top-rank veterinarian, landscape architect). Situs opportunity parameters based on family residence background entered into career choices, validating Benoit-Smullyman's concept (1944) of situs as a viable dimension in stratification studies. (SC)