ABSTRACT
There are two main contending positions regarding how individuals become situated in the class structure. The mainstream sociological position is that the social advantages and disadvantages of childhood SES largely determine adult education, occupation, and income, and therefore adult SES. SES is seen as socially “inherited” in this view and does not require any explanation beyond that. This is called the class structuralist or status ascription position. The other position is the meritocratic or status attainment position, held primarily by psychologists and economists, and avers that individual cognitive ability and motivation largely determine adult SES, and that they do so regardless of childhood SES (Nielsen 2006).
