A comparison of the social standing of the design professions in Korea and Australia

✍ Scribed by Siwha Chung; Allan Whitfield

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1999
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 215 KB
• Volume: 20
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0142-694X
• DOI: 10.1016/s0142-694x(98)00023-4

✦ Synopsis

A characteristic of any profession is that it occupies a social standing relative to other professions. Research has revealed a high degree of consensus in people's perceptions of the standing of a wide range of professions. Not only is there evidence of consensus over time, but also across diverse national groups 1,2 , giving rise to Marsh's 3 comment of 'the great cultural invariant'.

Historically, the empirical origins of this research go back to 1925 4 , but the underlying theories of social stratification (cf. Marx, Weber) go back much further. A central tenet is that occupation indicates social position; and the most plausible explanation is that in the absence of a fixed hierarchy based upon birthright or ancestry, a person's standing in society is based primarily upon occupation or profession. There is a recognition of