Abstract
In the past, efforts by archaeologists to establish an individual’s social status from the surviving, often fragmentary documentary record tended to suffer from unstated assumptions about the relationships between social status and wealth, as well as from the lack of any specified standard of comparison and comparable monetary units. This paper offers a way that may avoid this situation. Social status is defined, and a method for its measure is proposed, based on the economic means for social success in the Chesapeake from 1690–1815. Economic variables include land, bound labor, cattle, and horses. A standard of comparison is formulated from the average economic means of the 100 wealthiest Virginians listed in the 1787–1788 state tax records (Main 1954). Formulas for deriving the comparative status value (CSV) for each economic variable—land, bound labor, cattle, and horses—pertinent to a given individual are provided and from them are calculated an individual’s Economic Means Index (EMI). Several examples of CSV and EMI use are described, their probable limits are noted, and suggestions for their further refinement are offered.
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Ackermann, E.G. Economic means index: A measure of social status in the chesapeake, 1690–1815. Hist Arch 25, 26–36 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03373503
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03373503