The psychology of social class: How socioeconomic status impacts thought, feelings, and behaviour

The British Journal of Social Psychology
Antony S R Manstead

Abstract

Drawing on recent research on the psychology of social class, I argue that the material conditions in which people grow up and live have a lasting impact on their personal and social identities and that this influences both the way they think and feel about their social environment and key aspects of their social behaviour. Relative to middle-class counterparts, lower/working-class individuals are less likely to define themselves in terms of their socioeconomic status and are more likely to have interdependent self-concepts; they are also more inclined to explain social events in situational terms, as a result of having a lower sense of personal control. Working-class people score higher on measures of empathy and are more likely to help others in distress. The widely held view that working-class individuals are more prejudiced towards immigrants and ethnic minorities is shown to be a function of economic threat, in that highly educated people also express prejudice towards these groups when the latter are described as highly educated and therefore pose an economic threat. The fact that middle-class norms of independence prevail in universities and prestigious workplaces makes working-class people less likely to apply for posit...Continue Reading

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Oct 31, 2018·The British Journal of Social Psychology·Tobias Greitemeyer, Christina Sagioglou
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Mar 11, 2020·The British Journal of Social Psychology·Alexandra Vázquez, David Lois
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Jun 9, 2019·The British Journal of Social Psychology·Matthew J EasterbrookAntony S R Manstead
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