TY - JOUR
T1 - Defining Social Class Across Time and Between Groups
AU - Cohen, Dov
AU - Shin, Faith
AU - Liu, Xi
AU - Ondish, Peter
AU - Kraus, Michael W.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2017, © 2017 by the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc.
PY - 2017/11/1
Y1 - 2017/11/1
N2 - We examined changes over four decades and between ethnic groups in how people define their social class. Changes included the increasing importance of income, decreasing importance of occupational prestige, and the demise of the “Victorian bargain,” in which poor people who subscribed to conservative sexual and religious norms could think of themselves as middle class. The period also saw changes (among Whites) and continuity (among Black Americans) in subjective status perceptions. For Whites (and particularly poor Whites), their perceptions of enhanced social class were greatly reduced. Poor Whites now view their social class as slightly but significantly lower than their poor Black and Latino counterparts. For Black respondents, a caste-like understanding of social class persisted, as they continued to view their class standing as relatively independent of their achieved education, income, and occupation. Such achievement indicators, however, predicted Black respondents’ self-esteem more than they predicted self-esteem for any other group.
AB - We examined changes over four decades and between ethnic groups in how people define their social class. Changes included the increasing importance of income, decreasing importance of occupational prestige, and the demise of the “Victorian bargain,” in which poor people who subscribed to conservative sexual and religious norms could think of themselves as middle class. The period also saw changes (among Whites) and continuity (among Black Americans) in subjective status perceptions. For Whites (and particularly poor Whites), their perceptions of enhanced social class were greatly reduced. Poor Whites now view their social class as slightly but significantly lower than their poor Black and Latino counterparts. For Black respondents, a caste-like understanding of social class persisted, as they continued to view their class standing as relatively independent of their achieved education, income, and occupation. Such achievement indicators, however, predicted Black respondents’ self-esteem more than they predicted self-esteem for any other group.
KW - culture
KW - ethnic groups
KW - social class
KW - socioeconomic status
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U2 - 10.1177/0146167217721174
DO - 10.1177/0146167217721174
M3 - Article
C2 - 28914151
AN - SCOPUS:85030761166
SN - 0146-1672
VL - 43
SP - 1530
EP - 1545
JO - Personality and social psychology bulletin
JF - Personality and social psychology bulletin
IS - 11
ER -