Using a longitudinal sample of 583 males, this research examined the relationships among selected ascribed and achieved traits and their relationships to occupational attainment.American culture is marked by a central stress upon personal achievement, especially secular occupational achievement. The "success story" and the respect accorded to the self-made man are distinctly American. Our society has been highly competitive-a society in which ascribed status in the form of fixed, hereditarysocial stratification has been minimized (Williams, 1970).
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