An application of the multilevel regression technique to validate a social stratification scale

This chapter applies the multilevel regression technique in order to validate the ranking of occupational categories in a reputational scale of social desirability. Such attention to the differences inherent in work roles resumes the topic of the unequal distribution of material and symbolic rewards within societies. A tool widely used by sociologists to grasp the distributive inequalities associated with jobs is the occupational stratification scale or the hierarchical ordering of occupations. The aim of the model presented in this chapter is to validate an occupational stratification scale constructed in 2007 on the basis of the scale developed by de Lillo-Schizzerotto in 1985. The scale consists of 110 occupational categories constructed as the aggregate of 676 occupations (described in detail) which 2000 interviewees were asked to evaluate in terms of their social desirability. The ordering of the scale is validated through decomposition of the heterogeneity of the evaluations. The multilevel model shows that the 110 categories explain large part of this heterogeneity, also with the socio-demographic characteristics of the interviewees remaining equal.