Of the following jobs, which has the highest prestige in the U.S.?
- Lawyer
- Farmer
- Janitor
- Nurse
- Child care worker
Of the following jobs, which is (are) considered essential during the pandemic in the U.S.?
- Lawyer
- Farmer
- Janitor
- Nurse
- Child care worker
Sociologists talk about something called occupational prestige, the amount of respect or honor society attaches to a particular job. For decades, surveys that ask the American public to rank selected occupations reveal that jobs such as physician, college professor, and clergy tend to have the most prestige.
When we discuss this concept in my classes, I ask students what differentiates high from low-prestige jobs? Their answers typically go something like this. More prestigious jobs tend to pay more, require more education and training, and offer more job security. Some students add that these jobs are also more essential and important.
Transit workers, farmers, janitors, and mail carriers are all considered “essential” during the ongoing pandemic but are not considered very prestigious according to the aforementioned surveys. Essential public servants like firefighters and police officers fare better, but still are not that high in prestige. I remember students who were police or firefighters getting upset that a college professor like myself was ranked much higher in prestige than they were. After all, professors didn’t have to put their “life on the line” each day like they did.
Interestingly, many workers deemed essential during the pandemic occupy “low prestige” jobs that are typically undervalued, underappreciated, and sometimes invisible to the public. Consider how many times you thank the custodial staff at your place of work for keeping everything so clean. Do you even know their name?
Year in and year out, most jobs that are very high in prestige are occupied by males. Conversely, essential jobs such as health care workers and grocery employees are predominantly female. A recent New York Times piece states that one in three jobs held by women is considered essential.
Occupational prestige can vary depending on how social and economic changes influence the public’s perception of jobs. One of the benefits of our pandemic economy is that we’re becoming more aware of how interconnected we all are, both here and abroad. Furthermore, people are increasingly expressing appreciation for the job done by essential health care workers, essential instacart employees at the neighborhood grocery store, and essential employees who wait on us at our local pharmacy so we can pick up our prescriptions. I wonder if this newfound appreciation might make these essential jobs more respected in the future. Let’s hope so, because I shudder to think how we could manage these trying times without them.
Links to more from Dr. Bucher:
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