Cultural matching theory holds that class reproduction occurs when individuals from different class origins present different cultural styles to gatekeepers, who in turn select advantaged individuals based upon their styles. This theory also suggests that class reproduction will be disrupted if individuals from different origins present gatekeepers with the same styles. We investigate whether this is possible by examining a case in which similarities are particularly likely to occur: a situation in which public instructions give applicants from each class common information about what styles gatekeepers reward, gatekeepers select among applicants from each class who share access to similar styles, and applicants are likely to use the same styles as they are given time to strategize and need only present each style superficially. Drawing upon a content analysis of over 1,000 randomly selected applications that were written under these conditions, we find that individuals from different class origins present several similar styles but that differences remain. We conclude that the simultaneous presence of these conditions is unlikely to block class reproduction by erasing cultural differences.

文化匹配理论认为，当来自不同阶级起源的个人向守门人展示不同的文化风格时，就会发生阶级再生产，守门人又根据他们的风格选择优势个体。该理论还表明，如果来自不同出身的个体呈现出相同风格的守门人，则阶级再生产将被打乱。我们通过检查一个特别有可能发生相似性的案例来调查这是否可能：在这种情况下，公共指令向每个班级的申请人提供关于看门人奖励什么风格的共同信息，看门人从每个班级的申请人中选择共享相似的风格，申请人可能会使用相同的风格，因为他们有时间制定战略，只需要表面地呈现每种风格。通过对在这些条件下编写的 1,000 多个随机选择的应用程序的内容分析，我们发现来自不同阶级起源的个体呈现出几种相似的风格，但差异仍然存在。我们得出结论，这些条件的同时存在不太可能通过消除文化差异来阻止阶级再生产。