Cultural Distances Among Occupational Categories

Abstract

The responses to 113 national survey questions dealing with a variety of culture-related topics are used to estimate cultural differences among eight broad occupational categories in the United States. The estimated differences are rather small both among the manual categories and among the nonmanual categories, although there is not high consensus among individuals either in the working class or in the class. Both skilled manual workers and farmers, considered as aggregates, more closely resemble lower-class than middle-class workers in summary cultural scores computed to estimate the cultural differences. Although there is not a sharp disjunction in reported attitudes and behavior between manual and nonmanual workers, the distinction between the working class and the class still seems more useful than the concept of a middle mass.