Stratification, Work, and Values: A Polish-United States Comparison

Abstract

In Poland and the United States social stratification is related to parental values and to social orientations, with men of higher position more likely to value self-direction and to have a social orientation consonant with valuing self-direction: a nonauthoritarian perspective, personally responsible standards of morality, and trustfulness. These relationships result in large measure from the greater opportunities afforded by higher position to be self-directed in one's work. In the United States, higher social-stratification position is associated with more favorable self-conceptions, largely as a result of the greater opportunities for occupational self-direction that higher position affords. In Poland, lower position is associated with greater self-confidence and less anxiety.