Some Problems in the Study of Occupational Prestige with an Illustration from Israel

This paper is aimed at discussing some theoretical and methodological issues involved in the study of occupational prestige hierarchies. The theoretical discussion is supplemented by some preliminary findings from Israel which serve mainly to illustrate the approach advocated. Occupational prestige has been the focus of investigation for many students of social stratification. The prestige status of occupations is an important sociological variable since it is, firstly, a major, universal, social reward in itself, and, secondly, it expresses and symbolizes, to varying degrees, the differential allocation of some other crucial social rewards such as economic power or political influence. Since the distribution of rewards is the essence of any stratificational system, the hierarchy of occupational prestige is regarded by many as one of the basic ingredients of this system. Studies of occupational prestige were conducted as early as 1911 by T. H. C. Stevenson in England,' while Count's investigation of the social status of occupations in 1925 is considered as the first systematic research on this subject in the United States.2 Since these pioneering works, there has been accumulated a relatively rich body of empirical data about the prestige status of occupations, as ranked, or rated, by different groups within a given society as well as by many diverse societies.3