Artikel

Sociale status en antropobiologische kenmerken: een sociaal-biologisch onderzoek op Vlaamsen mannen van 19- en 20-jarige leeftijd

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Abstract

Social on status and anthropobiological characteristics. A sociobiological investigation on 19 and 20 year old Flemish males - The purpose of the present study was to investigate the association between the social status - the social aspiration level and the social origin - and the variability of a number of anthropobiological characteristics within the Flemish population. The investigation has been performed on 6.162 19 and 20 year old Flemish males, born in 1940, 1941 and 1942. For the composition of the sample we took care that all important social categories be represented by a sufficient number of subjects to enable a proper statistical analysis of the sample and its subdivisions. Sociological as well as somatometric, somatoscopic, psychometric, medical, serological and demographic data have been collected. The material has been handled statistically. The significance level of all the observed biological differences between the various social categories has been computed. Our hypothesis concerning the relationship between the social status and the variability of a number of anthropobiological characteristics has been answered quite unexpectedly: only for the ABO blood groups and a very small number of somatometric characteristics no relation at all could be found with the social aspiration level or the social origin of the subjects. Two distinct series of phenomena have been observed : 1. associations between biological characteristics and particular occupational or educational groups; 2. associations between biological characteristics and the social status. A positive relation has been found between the social status and the general body size. No relation could be discovered with the relative body weight, the relative fat component and the relative head measurements. A negative relation has been established for the relative length of the upper and lower limbs and the relative measurements of the hand and the feet. The distribution of the ABO blood group frequencies over the various social categories did not deviate from the theoretical expectations. For the general physical and psychological fitness (medical category) the middle social categories obtained a better appreciation than the lower categories. The results of the intelligence tests confirm the wellknown general tendency of a positive association with the aspiration level. For the parental family composition it appears that there are quite important socio-professional differences in fertility. The significant differences which have been found for the typical environmentally determined and the mixed genetically-environmentally influenced characters such as the fat component, the general body size, the form of the hand and the foot confirm the presumption that environmental factors played a prominent part in the realization of these differences. But genetic influences should also be taken into consideration. It appears namely that characteristics such as the relative muscle factor and the relative bone factor, the variability of which is mainly of genetic origin, are related to the social status. Moreover, for many somatometric as well as for the psychometric characteristics it has been found that the between-groups variance of the social aspiration level is much larger than the between-groups variance of the social origin.

How to Cite:

Cliquet, R., (1963) “Sociale status en antropobiologische kenmerken: een sociaal-biologisch onderzoek op Vlaamsen mannen van 19- en 20-jarige leeftijd”, Tijdschrift voor Sociale Wetenschappen 8(1), 48–67. doi: https://doi.org/10.21825/tvsw.95667