SITUS: AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE EFFECTS OF NETWORK CONNECTIONS ON STRATIFICATION USING HISTORICAL MATERIALS (NEW HAMPSHIRE)
This dissertation examines the influence of network connections within occupations on intergenerational mobility. Defining situs as the network aspect of an occupation, encompassing both itself and all occupations connected to it through effective networks, the situs of all occupations in late nineteenth-century Portsmouth, New Hampshire, are delineated through a demographic analysis of intragenerational mobility patterns. Once the situs of each occupation was determined, an intergenerational mobility analysis was performed, and it was found that a significant portion of this movement could be attributed to the situs of various occupations. Major implications of this dissertation included the finding that networks serve to channel intergenerational mobility. Additionally, when utilized, network resources tend to either perpetuate or decrease the son's position in a prestige hierarchy when compared to his father's. Consequently, a resource has been determined, situs, whose net effect is to perpetuate the existing structure of social inequality.
Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations