The data on which this report is based were gathered from 1,074 male household heads between ages 45 and 64 whose educational attainment was between grades 1 and 8. Respondents were farmers, operatives, craftsmen, farm laborers, and other laborers. The purposes of this report were (1) to describe the occupational characteristics of low-income employed male household heads; (2) to analyze the respondents' attitudes toward their work situations; (3) to present their perceptions of the mass-urbanized society and their work situation within it; (4) to relate their understanding of the relative prestige of occupations, and (5) to report their aspirations for occupational achievement for themselves and their children. The data suggest development of 2 action programs for expansion of occupational opportunities in low-income rural areas: (1) a vocational training program for nonfarm work and (2) for those who reject occupational hierarchy, a program aimed at changing perceptions and goals from a subcultural to a national orientation and then a vocational training program. (AN)