Social Class and Occupational Aspiration: A Comparison of Absolute and Relative Measurement

An investigation was made of social and personality factors influencing choice in role conflict situations. It was found that social sanction, social distance, and publicity interact in the determination of universalistic and particularistic responses, but overall weak sanction, friendship, and privacy favor particularistic response. Resolutions of a variety of role conflict situations in which social forces were balanced were intercorrelated to test the hypothesis that there is a personality bias towards universalistic or particularistic response. The hypothesis was confirmed by the results of a factor analysis of the intercorrelations which provided a general and two group factors. These were tentatively identified as authoritarian-submission, sex role conservatism, and morality-immorality respectively, and a method for testing the first of these contentions was indicated.