Abstract
Using the data of an Australian national survey in 1973-74, this study investigates the social stratification of the Australian society in terms of the status consistency and inconsistency. Three status variables (educational attainment, occupational prestige, and income) were analysed by the method of cluster analysis, and the analysis has revealed the following;
(1) The cluster analysis produced three status consistent clusters, and four status inconsistent clusters. While the former accounted for 49.1 per cent, the latter formed 43.6 per cent.
(2) The following mechanisms which distributed the the social resources were found. As a result of high schools, universities, and colleges of advanced education popularising quite recently, younger people tended to be highly educated. Occupational prestige of farmers was too high for their educational attainment. Also income of the manual employees tended to decrease due to lack of the seniority system. when they reached around forty years of age. However, the self-employed manual workers obtained much higher income than the manual employees. The different language and culture overseas immigrants in such a disadvantageous position that they could not get a job meeting the standards of their educational attainment. As a result, their income tended to be lower.
(3) Although status inconsistency had no effect on class self-identification and voting behaviour, the status variables did.
