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Deviations from cultural consensus about occupations : The duality of occupation meanings and Americans’ meaning communities
Combs, Aidan; Varela, Gabriel; Robinson, Dawn T.; u. a. (2025): Deviations from cultural consensus about occupations : The duality of occupation meanings and Americans’ meaning communities, in: Social networks : an international journal of structural analysis, Amsterdam [u.a.]: Elsevier Science, Jg. 82, S. 153–165, doi: 10.1016/j.socnet.2025.04.003.
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Author:
Title of the Journal:
Social networks : an international journal of structural analysis
ISSN:
0378-8733
Publisher Information:
Year of publication:
2025
Volume:
82
Pages:
Language:
English
Abstract:
We examine ratings of 642 occupations by a national online sample of U.S respondents in 2019 (Freeland et al., 2020). We analyze the respondents’ ratings of occupations on three dimensions of cultural meaning—evaluation (good versus bad), potency (powerful versus powerless), and activity (lively versus quiet). We take deviations of respondents’ individual ratings from population evaluation, potency and activity estimates, focusing on deviations from consensus rather than consensus itself. Drawing on Breiger's (1974) work on duality, we examine two projections of the initial rectangular matrix of correlated deviations. Our two projections represent (1) the cultural communities that people form when they differ from consensus in similar ways, and (2) the clusters of occupations that move in similar ways across those subcultures. Correlations among the residuals at the person level are indicators of shared subcultural differences from the mainstream—different ways of meaning-making about what is valuable and worthy about occupational work. At the occupation level, the structure represents schemas for which occupations share common elements and move together when those elements are evaluated differently. We use dyad models to investigate what metrics of occupation similarity predict similarity in deviations from consensus. We find that similarity in affective meaning (evaluation, potency and activity), material requirements, rewards, and work characteristics all predict clustering at the occupation level. Demographic composition of occupations is less important. We find that older respondents, White respondents, and higher income respondents tend to discriminate more between occupations on evaluation and potency. Respondents who are more similar in age have more similar patterns of deviations. However, occupation-level variables are in general much stronger predictors of residual structure than respondent-level variables.
GND Keywords: ; ; ;
Dualität
Beruf
Kultur
Konsens
Keywords: ; ; ;
Duality
Occupations
Culture
Cultural consensus
DDC Classification:
RVK Classification:
Peer Reviewed:
Yes:
International Distribution:
Yes:
Open Access Journal:
Yes:
Type:
Article
Activation date:
April 25, 2025
Project(s):
Versioning
Question on publication
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https://fis.uni-bamberg.de/handle/uniba/107736