A classification based on a person's socio-economic status, including factors such as income, education, and occupation.
Social class is a classification of people based on their social and economic standing. People are born into a social class and can move to different social classes for various reasons. Social class does not entirely define a person; however, it can indicate the daily challenges a person has had to overcome. People in lower social classes tend to have more health conditions and emotional hardships than other social classes (Bjornsdottir and Rule, 2019). Social class can also represent a person’s privileges that enable a particular lifestyle.
Examples of Social Class
- Lower Class
- Working Class
- Middle Class
- Upper-Middle Class
- Upper Class
Researching Social Class
Researching social class can be helpful when exploring ways socioeconomic factors cause problems for some people and provide access to others. Results from this research can suggest why people have advantages over others. It can also reveal clues as to why a group of people may view others differently based on their social class.
Questions to Ask
- What is this person’s current social class?
- Into what social class was this person born?
- How does social class provide opportunities or create barriers for this person?
- How do others perceive this person’s social class? Are these perceptions harmful in some ways?
Look For
- The quality of a person’s possessions
- The neighborhoods/areas where people live
- Ways a person talks about their social class
Keywords
Sources
Organizations
Bird, R., & Newport, F. (2017). What Determines How Americans Perceive Their Social Class? Retrieved October 29, 2019 from https://news.gallup.com/opinion/polling-matters/204497/determines-americans-perceive-social-class.aspx
Social Science
Bjornsdottir, R. T., & Rule, N. O. (2019). Negative emotion and perceived social class. Emotion. doi:10.1037/emo0000613
Dzul-Church, V., Cimino, J. W., Adler, S. R., Wong, P., & Anderson, W. G. (2010). I’m sitting here by myself.’: experiences of patients with serious illness at an urban public hospital. Journal of Palliative Medicine, 13(6), 695-701 7p. doi:10.1089/jpm.2009.0352
Kadushin, C. (2012). Understanding Social Networks: Theories, Concepts, and Findings. New York: Oxford University Press.
Keltner, D. (2011). Social Class as Culture. Retrieved October 29, 2019 from https://www.psychologicalscience.org/news/releases/social-class-as-culture.html
Kraus, M. W., Piff, P. K., & Keltner, D. (2011). Social Class as Culture: The Convergence of Resources and Rank in the Social Realm. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 20(4), 246-250. doi:10.1177/0963721411414654
Lovell, K., Lamb, J., Gask, L., Bower, P., Waheed, W., Chew-Graham, C., . . . Dowrick, C. (2014). Development and evaluation of culturally sensitive psychosocial interventions for under-served people in primary care. BMC Psychiatry, 14, 217. doi:10.1186/s12888-014-0217-8
Molly, S.-T., Renee, S., Ann, G., Richard, S., & Naomi, D. (2010). Culturally Sensitive Community Engaged Research With African American Young Women: Lessons Learned. Journal of Community Health Nursing, 27(3), 160. doi:10.1080/07370016.2010.494456
Shreffler, M. J. (1999). Culturally sensitive research methods of surveying rural/frontier residents. Western Journal of Nursing Research, 21(3), 426-435. doi:10.1177/01939459922043866