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It pays to be Herr Kaiser: Germans with noble-sounding surnames more often work as managers than as employees

journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-09, 11:56 authored by Raphael Silberzahn, Eric Luis Uhlmann
In the field study reported here (N = 222,924), we found that Germans with noble-sounding surnames, such as Kaiser ("emperor"), König ("king"), and Fürst ("prince"), more frequently hold managerial positions than Germans with last names that either refer to common everyday occupations, such as Koch ("cook"), Bauer ("farmer"), and Becker/Bäcker ("baker"), or do not refer to any social role. This phenomenon occurs despite the fact that noble-sounding surnames never indicated that the person actually held a noble title. Because of basic properties of associative cognition, the status linked to a name may spill over to its bearer and influence his or her occupational outcomes.

History

Publication status

  • Published

File Version

  • Published version

Journal

Psychological Science

ISSN

0956-7976

Publisher

SAGE Publications

Issue

12

Volume

24

Page range

2437-2444

Department affiliated with

  • Business and Management Publications

Notes

Read commentary on paper here http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/73372/

Full text available

  • No

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2018-02-06

First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date

2018-02-06

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