ABSTRACT
This part introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters. The part is concerned with theoretical and empirical research on the theory of status characteristics and expectation states. It describes some of the research on power and prestige orders in small groups that is background to research on status characteristics theory. The part also describes some of the collateral research on distributive justice and self-evaluation processes. It reviews the objectives of the research, describes some of the new concepts and principles that it introduces, and presents the particular work in the larger context of status research in the expectation states program. The part focuses on research on gender that is in a similar vein to that of the research of E. Jackson on physical attractiveness. It deals with heterogeneous groups, and argues that if individuals are differentiated in terms of status characteristics, then their differentiation on task cue behaviors will coincide with these status differences.
