| Abstrakt: |
A longstanding question in the social sciences is why stratified social systems are accepted as legitimate by both those who are advantaged and disadvantaged by the system. A frequently cited explanation of the legitimation of social inequality is the self-evaluation theory of legitimacy (Della Fave 1980; 1986), which proposes that actors develop self-evaluations consistent with the level of resources they acquire from their position in the structure. When self-evaluations and structural positions are congruent, all actors (advantaged and disadvantaged) will view their level of rewards as fair and the structure as legitimate. Two studies were conducted to test aspects of this theory.The first study was designed to test the hypothesis that in a stratified structure, actors develop self-evaluations consistent with their levels of rewards. The second study was designed to test the hypothesis that when self-evaluations and structural position are congruent (incongruent), all actors will see their levels of rewards as fair (unfair). Comparing the initial results of the two studies, the conclusion can be drawn that while structural position does influence levels of ability and perceptions of fairness and legitimacy, self-evaluations also play a crucial role within advantaged or disadvantaged positions. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
