Functions of Children's Perceptions of the Stratification System

The purpose of this study has been to examine children's perceptions of the stratification system and to consider the possible consequences of these perceptions for the larger social order. There has been an attempt to extend one aspect of Davis and Moore's classical stratification theory by exploring the status attitudes requisite for an adequate number of children to strive toward prestigious, socially-important occupations. A sample of 1,917 black and white children from grades 3-12 from Baltimore City were interviewed. Findings indicate that young children have developed a type of status consciousness that should facilitate such occupational striving: that is, a clear awareness of occupational prestige differences as early as third grade (based on a comparison with 1963 adult North-Hatt ratings), and a continuing optimism about their own opportunities to achieve desirous occupations. In addition, several mechanisms are noted that appear to be dampening anger against the class system among the disadvantged school children.