Social Networks and Prestige Attainment

A bstract Several hypotheses are derived that relate social networks to the occupational prestige attainment process. These hypotheses are evaluated using theoretically derived indicators and ordinary least squares regression. Most of the hypotheses considered in this paper do not receive support, and the one hypothesis that does lacks a consistent theoretical explanation. From this analysis, I draw two important conclusions: First, the relationship between the prestige of a social network contact and prestige attainment may be empirically strong, but the theoretical explanation linking them lacks consistency. Secondly, empirical work performed to test social network theories should no longer focus on dyadic-data alone. The broader implications of these conclusions for future research are considered.