| This dissertation presents and tests a theory of how status hierarchies can become legitimated. In particular, it analyzes processes by which low status actors who are put into group leadership positions can acquire legitimate authority. For instance, a woman assigned leadership of a group of men, or a low status man assigned to lead a group of higher status men often have difficulty exercising authority. The dissertation presents research which tests predictions from the theory of the legitimation process. It builds on ideas from the theory of status generalization (Berger, Cohen, and Zelditch, 1966, 1972, Berger, Fisek, Norman, and Zelditch, 1977) and Ridgeway's and Berger's (1986, 1988, 1998) theory of legitimation. A two (status consistent/inconsistent) by two (performance evaluations/no performance evaluations) factorial design was used in a laboratory experiment. Two person, face to face groups worked to solve a cooperative task. One of the pair was a confederate, trained to engage in dominating behaviors. Reactions to the dominating behaviors constituted the dependent variables in the study. Results show support for the effects of performance evaluations on influence, effects of both status consistency and performance evaluations on behavioral reactions to confederate dominating behaviors, and an effect of status consistency on the timing and patterns of interaction. Further research is proposed based on leads from these data, for the purpose of further developing the theory of legitimation of status hierarchies. |
