ABSTRACT
This chapter describes how expectations and power and prestige behaviors evolve in settings in which actors are interacting on a sequence of valued collective tasks. It is concerned with the overall effect that status structures that emerge on one task have on those that emerge on a subsequent task. The chapter is also concerned with the evolution of expectations and power and prestige behaviors when, from the standpoint of a focal actor, the situation is open to new actors and new information. It deals with the process when, from the standpoint of the focal actor, the situation is closed to the environment and yet the actor's expectations and behaviors continue to evolve. The chapter describes the basic elements of status characteristics theory and introduces an auxiliary assumption that enables the authors to apply the theory to a situation involving sequence of tasks. It considers substantive consequences of the theory, including general theoretical assertions.
