Social Class as Culture: The Convergence of Resources and Rank in the Social Realm

• Published in: Current directions in psychological science : a journal of the American Psychological Society Vol. 20; no. 4; pp. 246 - 250
• Main Authors: Kraus, Michael W., Piff, Paul K., Keltner, Dacher
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA Sage Publications 01.08.2011; SAGE Publications; SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
• Subjects: Biological and medical sciences; College admissions; Cultural identity; Culture; Emotion; Empathy; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Perceptions; Personality psychology; Prosocial behavior; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Social behavior; Social classes; Social perception; Social psychology; Social structure and organization; Socioeconomic status; Upper class; inequality; rank; social hierarchy; culture; social class; Social environment; Human; Sociodemographic factor; Cultural environment; Review; Social class; Social hierarchy
• ISSN: 0963-7214; 1467-8721
• DOI: 10.1177/0963721411414654

Social class reflects more than the material conditions of people's lives. Objective resources (e.g., income) shape cultural practices and behaviors that signal social class. These signals create cultural identities among upper- and lower-class individuals— identities that are rooted in subjective perceptions of social-class rank vis-à-vis others. Empirical studies find that perceptions of social-class rank influence patterns of contextual versus dispositional cognition and other- versus self-oriented affect and behavior that are consistent with objective resource-based measures of social class. Our theoretical conceptualization emphasizes the utility of measuring and manipulating perceptions of social-class rank to better understand how social class influences thought and action across diverse social domains.