A study was conducted to examine race and sex differences in occupational aspirations and the role of these differences in perpetuating under- or overrepresentation of women and blacks in different occupations. The underrepresentation of women, especially blacks, in all levels of entrepreneurial jobs was stressed since these jobs constitute a large proportion of all jobs and pay better for less education than other fields. Data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress regarding occupational aspirations, values, and self-reported competencies of thirteen-year-olds, seventeen-year-olds, and adults aged twenty-six to thirty-five were used to examine race and sex differences in orientation to particular types of occupations. Based on these results, speculations were presented about how people adjust their occupational goals in ways that help perpetuate occupational segregation. The following five principles were formulated: (1) society-wide stereotypes about good jobs are mirrored in the occupational aspirations of children; (2) stereotypes about occupations appropriate for men are different from those for women; (3) these stereotypes are largely the same for all racial and ethnic groups; (4) as children go through adolescence their aspirations become more realistic; (5) and the races and sexes adjust their aspirations towards different sets of occupations. The data implied that strategies to decrease occupational segregation by decreasing educational handicaps will not eradicate all important differences and recommended that more attention be devoted to understanding the socialization processes that lead the races and sexes to seek different jobs. (Author/BM) Aspect of National Assessment (NAEP) dealt with in this document: Results (Secondary Analyses).