Social Class and Attitudes of Youth Relevant for the Realization of Adult Goals

Focusing on values and perceptions of opportunity, an attempt is made to get at the attitudinal sources of class differences in the behavior of male young persons with respect to dominant societal success goals. Systematic class differences are found between middleand working-class male high school juniors in three areas: evaluation of dominant success goals, evaluation of activities potentially instrumental for the realization of success goals, and beliefs regarding access to those goals. In showing class differences in perceptions of opportunity and greater flexibility in the value orientations of workingthan middle-class students, the data support Rodman's "value stretch" hypothesis. A mong efforts to explain social class differences in the achievenment of adult success goals, considerable attention has been given to the potential contributions of social psychological factors.' It has been suggested that the attitudes which prevail in the lower social strata are such that young persons with these origins tend not to take full advantage of the opportunities available to them. Hyman, for example, argues that ". . a systemn of beliefs and values within the lower class . . . reduces the very voluntary actions which would ameliorate their low position."2 Youth studies in which social class is compared to occupational aspiration consistently show that those from the higher social strata tend to aspire to more prestigious occupations than do those from the lower social strata.3 These data may be interpreted as evidence of class differences in the evaluation of the desirability of dominant success goals. Questions have been raised, however, regarding this interpretation. It has been argued that there are no class differences in values. What appear to be differences in values are reflections of adaptations to lack of opportunity.4 In interpreting his data on the occupational orientations of male high school students, Stephenson, for example, suggests a pattern in which aspirations are relatively unaffected by class and therefore reflect the general cultural emphasis on high goal orientations.5 He argues that plans or expectations are more definitely class based and, thus, reflect class differences in opportunity and general life chances. In an attempt to reconcile these differences, * The analysis is based on the author's dissertation, "A Social Class Comparison of Attitudes of Male High School Students Towards College and Dominant Occupational Goals," University of Minnesota, 1962. The study was made possible by the cooperation of the St. Paul public school system. For a consideration of the relevance of the data reported here for the deferred gratification hypothesis, see "Deferred Gratification, Time Conflict, and College Attendance," Sociology of Education, 38 (1965), pp. 332-340. 1 For a review of this literature see Seymour Lipset and Reinhard Bendix, Social Mobility in Industrial Society (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1959). 2 Herbert Hyman, "The Value System of Different Classes: A Social-Psychological Contribution to the Analysis of Stratification," in Class, Status, and Power, R. Bendix and S. M. Lipset, eds. (Glencoe, Illinois: The Free Press, 1953), p. 427. 3 See, for example, LaMar Empey, "Social Class and Occupational Aspiration: A Comparison of Absolute and Relative Measurement," American Sociological Review, 21 (1956), pp. 703-709. 4 For a comprehensive discussion of this issue see Hyman Rodman, "The Lower Class Value Stretch," Social Forces, 42 (1963), pp. 205-215. See also C. T. Pihlblad and F. Caro, "Aspirations and Expectations: A Reexamination of the Bases for Social Class Differences in the Occupational Orientations of Male High School Students," Sociology and Social Research, 48 (1965), pp. 465475. 5 Richard Stephenson, "Mobility Orientation and Gratification of 1,000 Ninth Graders," American Sociological Review, 22 (1957), pp. 204-212. This content downloaded from 207.46.13.60 on Thu, 21 Apr 2016 05:38:30 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms SOCIAL CLASS AND YOUTH ATTITUDES 493 Rodman has introduced a concept which he calls "value stretch."6 Rodman argues that " . the lower-class person, without abandoning the general values of society, develops an alternative set of values. Without abandoning the values placed upon success . . . he stretches the values so that lesser degrees of success also become desirable."7 In the stretched value system there is "a low degree of commlitment to all values within the range, including the dominant, middle-class values."8 The alternate values help the lower-class person to adjust to his deprived circumstances. Rodman maintains that traditional research on aspirations does not provide a test for his hypothesis since respondents are usually asked to indicate their level of aspiration with a single response.9 The respondent is not provided with an opportunity to show the range of his value system. Also relevant for the understanding of class differences in realization of occupational goals are beliefs regarding available opportunities and values associated with actions which might be instrumental for conventional success goals. Hyman, for example, draws on survey data to argue that in the lower classes there is an awareness of lack of opportunity and less emphasis on goals which would be instrumental for success.10 Kahl reports that among the 24 working-class boys he intensively interviewed, high school and the possibility of college were viewed by all boys solely as steps to jobs." None seemed to be interested in learning for its own sake. It might be hypothesized that middleclass youth have a more positive attitude toward education which facilitates their realization of occupational goals. The present study represents an attempt to compare systematically the attitudes of male high school students from two distinct sectors in the social class hierarchy in three areas relevant for the realization of adult goals. The inquiry is concerned with: (1) evaluation of adult goals, (2) beliefs regarding activities potentially instrumental for the realization of adult goals, and (3) evaluation of potentially instrumental activities as possible goals in their own right. Since the study concerns itself with alternate as well as conventional ends and means, it promises an empirical test of the value stretch hypothesis.