Setting Out on a Journey

Abstract

The main topic of this book is the interweaving of status and family. This is examined by studying spousal choices and the succession of status in the family. The data set consists of social genealogies, and the key concepts are status, status hierarchies and status equivalence. Status is preferred over the concept of class because it adds another aspect to the conventional class criterion of occupation: social esteem or prestige. Social esteem is identified by spousal and occupational choices: acceptable spouse candidates constitute a common marriage market, and the carrying over of the family’s status into the next generation makes statuses appear hereditary. In both cases status equivalence has been an influential imperative. Its efficacy is elaborated for several status hierarchies. Patterns of social rise and social decline are also identified.