Status Inconsistency, Racial Separatism, and Job Satisfaction
This study examined the effects of status inconsistencies between time in service and rank on attitudes concerning racial separatism and job satisfaction for white males serving in the enlisted ranks of the U.S. military. Although analyses of national survey data often report no attitudinal effects of status inconsistency, such influences were predicted because of the unique status structure of the enlisted ranks. That system is characterized by highly crystallized status configurations and by well-defined congruence rules, both of which are structural properties thought to strengthen individual attitudinal responses to status inconsistency. Consistent with specific hypotheses developed from previous research, white enlisted personnel with relatively long time in service and low rank were found to express greater racial separatism and lower job satisfaction than predicted only by time in service and rank. Also as expected, those with relatively high rank and short time in service reported greater job satisfaction than otherwise predicted.