Negro-White Status Differentials and Social Distance

Bibliographic Data

ID4803148
AuthorsFrank R Westie (corresponding author)
Year1952
Volume17
Issue5
Pages550
Publication date1952-10-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueAmerican Sociological Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0003-1224 • E-ISSN: 1939-8271
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.2307/2088221
OpenAlexW2321964787
LanguageEN
Citations received13

A NUMBER of studies have sought to establish relationships between race prejudice and social class or socioeconomic status. Almost all of these studies have been concerned only with variations in respondent status as related to race attitudes. The present study differs from previous investigations in that concern is not simply with variations in respondent status but also with variation in the status of the person toward whom attitudes are expressed. Thus we are able to establish status differentials, defined as the difference in socioeconomic status between the respondent and the attitude-object, and to relate these as well to attitudes.' In this research the respondents are white, male adults of widely varying socioeconomic status. The attitude-objects are Negroes. Variation in the Negro's status is achieved by specifying his occupation in the items of the scales used in this study. For purposes of illustration let us visualize two status hierarchies. Whites occupy positions on one, Negroes are ranged along the other. The white looks across (or up or down) at the Negro and responds to him. We want to know just what effect the status of the white in relation to the status of the Negro has on response. In his survey of the relationship between social class and prejudice, Horowitz concludes, With respect to the problem of the relation between variations in individual

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