OPERATIONALIZATION PAPER

Operationalization Paper

Operationalization Paper

Bogardus social distance scale

A scaling technique for measuring social distance, pioneered by Emory S. Bogardus in the 1930s, usually applied to the study of ethnic relations, social classes, and social values generally. The scale attempts to measure respondents' degree of warmth, intimacy, indifference, or hostility to particular social relationships, by having them indicate agreement or disagreement with a series of statements about particular (say) religious groups.

For example, would these groups be acceptable as visitors to the country, fellow citizens, neighbours, personal friends, and close kin by marriage? Characteristically, the scales make the assumption that the attributes measured can be ordered as a continuum of social distance (in the above example this ranges from exclusion from the country to close kinship by marriage) (Bogardus 1926). Other examples of social distance scaling techniques include sociometric measurement, and occupational prestige scales, which require respondents to judge the social standing of a selection of occupations.

This can be accomplished either by internally growing resources adding people, raising capital, increasing production capacity and ability - or by acquiring an already existing organization that has an appropriate suite of resources, ideally with a minimal amount of redundancy. (As an aside, reducing redundancy requires an expenditure of resources that does not directly contribute to the purpose or objectives, and thus is counter-productive to the BAH organization. It is akin to externalizing waste products. A Valence Theory reading of the notion of “reducing redundancy” might provide BAH-managers with more productive options, but that's for another post.) In either case of internal growth or external acquisition, there is a necessity to control the deployment of those resources to ensure the successful accomplishment and growth of the organization's objectives, goals, outcomes and purpose.

The Bogardus Social Distance Scale is a psychological testing scale created by Emory S. Bogardus to empirically measure people's willingness to participate in social contacts of varying degrees of closeness with members of diverse social groups, such as other racial and ethnic groups, sex offenders, and homosexuals (Babbie 2000).

The scale asks people the extent to which they would be accepting of each group (a score of 1.00 for a group is taken to indicate no social distance):

As close relatives by marriage (score 1.00)

As my close personal friends (2.00)

As neighbors on the same street (3.00)

As co-workers in the same occupation (4.00)

As citizens in my country (5.00)

As only visitors in my country (6.00)

Would exclude from my country ...