The hidden cues of social class

What do people rely on when determining someone else's social class

Bibliographic Data

ID21739533
AuthorsJessica Kiebler (0000-0002-0031-8313, University of Michigan, corresponding author), A J Stewart (0000-0003-4736-0815, University of Michigan)
Year2024
Volume24
Issue1
Pages73-101
Publication date2024-04-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAnalyses of Social Issues and Public Policy (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1529-7489 • E-ISSN: 1530-2415
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/asap.12373
OpenAlexW4390449093
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited65

We aimed to understand the cues individuals use to assess social class, and their relation to social theories. Participant ( N = 235) open‐ended survey responses were coded in response to the following: “ If you can at least sometimes tell if someone is (#1) working‐class/poor OR (#2) middle‐/upper‐class, how can you tell? What are all of the characteristics, behaviors, and/or other indicators that communicate their social class to you?” Based on participant comments, we created six themes: embodied cultural capital, material/economic capital, taste, status/position, institutional cultural capital, and social capital. First, we found spontaneous participant responses reflected several classic social class theories. Second, while the content often differed in terms of how participants discussed the working‐class/poor compared to the middle‐/upper‐class, there was only one significant difference in frequency of response. Specifically, participants were more likely to express the embodied cultural capital theme when asked about the working‐class/poor. Finally, participants with some more privileged identities (e.g., racially white, those with higher education, straight/heterosexual participants) were more likely to focus on symbolic or non‐material aspects of class compared to participants with some less privileged identities (e.g., participants with lower incomes in their families of origin), who focused more on material and economic cues in determining a person's class

Cultural capital · Embodied cognition · Middle class · Political science · Social capital · Social class · Social position · Social relation · Social science · Social status · Sociology · Taste · Working class · Psychology · Racial and Ethnic Identity Research · Social and Cultural Dynamics · Social and Intergroup Psychology · Social Psychology

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