Sex, Society, and Association: A Cross-national Examination of Status Construction Theory

Abstract

Status construction theory (SCT) has established a set of sufficient conditions for the formation of status characteristics that define informal hierarchies. However, while it has proven successful in explaining the development of status-laden personal characteristics in the laboratory, relatively less attention has been devoted to its predictions at the societal level. This paper alters the current state of affairs by examining the predictions of status construction theory using the 2001 International Social Survey Program's networks module. This data source allows the comparison of a macro-level distribution of a goal object (authority positions) with a novel measure of status derived from the social networks literature. The results are consistent with the predictions of SCT, supporting the theory outside the laboratory and cross-nationally.