1982 Volume 9 Issue 11 Pages 61-73
Recent development of latent structure analysis due to Goodman (1974a, b) enabled us to build a cognitive model of perceptions of class, status and level of living. We propose a) that individuals covertly evaluate in a cognitive space their relative standing within the stratification systems, b) that two of the basic dimensions of the space pertains to cognition of the position in the labor market and life chances, c) that overt evaluation, i.e., identification, of class and level of living is derived from cognition in the first and second dimensions, respectively, but not jointly, and, d) that status identification is affected by the two types of cognition. To test our model, the SSM survey data collected in 1975 were used. The evidence obtained from the present analysis confirmed our propositions.
