AN AXIOMATIZATION OF STATUS CHARACTERISTICS THEORY

Berger et al. (1992) contains a well-structured testing situation for four different status processing principles in symmetrical status inconsistency situations. However, the testing situation presupposes that each of the four principles is formalized within Berger et al.′s (1977) Status Characteristics Theory, so that the problem is whether the formalization as such favors some of the four principles. The paper contains a detailed axiomatization of the Status Characteristics Theory in terms of the structuralist theory of science (cf. Balzer, Moulines, and Sneed 1987). It is shown that each of the four principles constitutes a structuralist specialization of the axiomatized general status characteristics theory. It turns out that each of the four principles is independent of the core assumptions of the Status Characteristics Theory as well as of one another. This in turn gives the strongest possible, though still partial argument for Berger et al.′s position that the Status Characteristics Theory is neutral with respect to the four principles. Finally, the four hypotheses are discussed from the perspective of to what extent the focal person′s definition of the situation resembles the objective situation. It turns out that in this respect several different situations are separable. © 1993 Academic Press. All rights reserved.