The Process of Status Attainment Among Men in Poland, The U.S., and West Germany

Hypotheses concerning similarities and differences in the process of individual status attainment are testedfor men in Poland, the U.S., and West Germany. In contrast to previous comparative studies of stratification, which often focus on industrialism arguments to generate hypotheses, I consider the impact of the educational systems of the three societies on the attainment process. The timing and mechanisms of selection into the educational systems and the links between the educational and occupational structures are used to generate hypotheses concerning the stratification process. A model using multiple indicators of occupation and an effect-proportional score for education indicates that ascription is generally more extensive in the two European countries. Education is more important in allocating men to occupations in Poland and West Germany than in the United States, but some of the differences were not as large as anticipated.