This paper examines the relationship of the achievement syndrome (achievement motivation, values and aspirations) and industrialization to intergenerational social mobility in Brazil. It was hypothesized that residence in an industrial community and a positive orientation toward achievement are conducive to upward social mobility and that the effects of both are additive. Research was conducted in five communities, each of which was selected to represent a point on a rural-urban-industrial continuum, ranging from an isolated village through a traditional community to a modern industrial city. Data were collected over a nineteen-month period during 1963-64 from 647 adult males through the use of a personal interview and a Thematic Apperception Test. It was found that degree of industrialization and achievement orientation are equally good predictors of whether a person has been socially mobile or not. Both are positively related to mobility, even when the effects of the other is controlled; together they account for more of the variation in social mobility than either does separately. It was also found that amongst those individuals who have experienced some upward mobility, the best predictor of degree of movement through the occupational system is the achievement syndrome score. The finding suggest that future research on the antecedents of social mobility should include explanatory variables from both the structural and psychological levels.
The Thematic Apperception Test: An introductory manual for its clinical use with adult males.
