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Does self-perceptions and income inequality match? The case of subjective social status
... Investigaciones empíricas recientes en numerosos países han observado que la mayor parte de la población identifica su status social subjetivo en las posiciones intermedias, particularmente cuando debe responder una pregunta habitual en las encuestas en la que se le pide posicionarse en una escala estándar (Evans y Kelley, 2004;Kelley y Kelley, 2009;Forsé y Parodi, 2011;Lindemann y Saar, 2014;Poppitz, 2016). Notoriamente, esto también ocurre en América Latina, una de las regiones con mayores desigualdades (Castillo, Miranda y Madero, 2013;Lora y Fajardo, 2013;PNUD, 2017). ...
... El status social subjetivo ha sido estudiado empíricamente, asumiendo que la percepción de los individuos acerca de su propio entorno se asocia a una imagen del conjunto de la sociedad, que se suele sintetizar en varias encuestas internacionales en una pregunta sim-ple y comparable en diversos países, referida a que el encuestado se sitúe en una escala de 1 a 10 que representa a los grupos de la sociedad desde arriba hacia abajo (Evans y Kelley, 2004). Según esta metodología, la mayor parte de las personas tiende a verse a sí misma en el medio de la jerarquía social, pero su percepción suele estar asociada con diversas variables (Evans y Kelley, 2004;Kelley y Kelley, 2009;Lindemann y Saar, 2014;Poppitz, 2016). Entre esos factores se encuentran la ocupación y el nivel educacional de los encuestados a nivel individual, así como la desigualdad de los ingresos y el grado de desarrollo de los países medido por su ingreso per cápita en cuanto variables macro. ...
... Un resultado destacado de nuestro estudio consiste en que una gran proporción de la población tiende a autoidentificarse con la categoría inferior de la clasificación promedio de la población, integrada principalmente por personas de ingreso bajo, sin educación universitaria y que habitan en áreas distintas a la zona de residencia de la clase media alta. Esto difiere de lo que se observa habitualmente en los estudios referidos a diversos países, incluido Chile, donde se registra una fuerte preferencia por una identificación con la clase media, mediante estudios de status social subjetivo basados en encuestas que aplican una escala estándar (Evans y Kelley, 2004;Kelley y Kelley, 2009;Forsé y Parodi, 2011;Castillo, Miranda y Madero, 2013;Lora y Fajardo, 2013;Lindemann y Saar, 2014;Poppitz, 2016) o que solicitan a los individuos elegir la clase social a la que pertenecen entre varias alternativas que se nombran al encuestado (Valenzuela, 2008;Andersen y Curtis, 2012;Haddon, 2015). Esto indica que la metodología de recolección de los datos influye decisivamente en los resultados obtenidos. ...
Investigaciones empíricas en diversos países muestran que una parte importante de la población se identifica subjetivamente con las clases medias. A partir de una clasificación de las personas en la sociedad elaborada por los propios individuos, analizamos de qué modo ellos se identifican con una posición social. Nuestro análisis se basa en una encuesta en que se solicitó a los participantes realizar un juego de clasificación de viñetas representativas de personas en la sociedad chilena. La encuesta fue aplicada en Chile en el año 2016 a una muestra de 2.000 individuos estadísticamente representativos de la población. Los resultados muestran los criterios que predominan al clasificar a las personas en la sociedad y qué influye en la definición de su posición social por parte de los individuos, quienes se autoidentifican mayoritariamente con una categoría baja en la sociedad.
... As Sennett and Cobb state, a "hidden system of class" is a functional subjective representation for those who hold subordinate positions (1972: 187). The correlation between subjective position and objective social class has been widely explored (Evans and Kelley, 2004;Hout, 2008;Poppitz, 2016), but a descriptive analysis of the subjective dimensions constitutes a relevant sociological problem in itself. ...
... Usually, surveys ask individuals to position themselves on a standard scale (Evans and Kelley, 2004;Lindemann and Saar, 2014;Poppitz, 2016) or to choose their class from a set of options (Andersen and Curtis, 2012;Hout, 2008). Such studies have sparked an intense discussion regarding the size of the middle class that is situated between the two hierarchical extremes. ...
In order to understand the way in which people self-identify in society and as a contribution to debates about class identity in Latin America, in this article the authors assess how individuals categorize themselves and others socially, and discuss whether a significant portion of the population classifies itself as middle class. They address the question of whether or not individuals’ representation of their social position is linked to social class, examining whether that position incorporates a socio-economic dimension, a hierarchical dimension, or even an element of moral value. The authors focus on how individuals name their own social position by means of a vignette-based survey applied in 2016 to a randomized sample of 2000 people in Chile. The results show that the theoretical notion of class is still of relevance to subjective positioning criteria, and that such criteria are specific to individuals who self-identify with lower or higher social positions.
... Empirically, various works have shown that material factors including income and wealth as well as non-material factors such as education and occupational status are highly relevant to describe the variation of subjective social status in the European context (Evans and Kelley 2004;Lindemann and Saar 2014;Poppitz 2016). Therefore, I assume subjective social status to be a consistent representation of individual preferences over the three capital types. ...
... Second, the estimated weights could be biased due to omitted variables, related to the previous discussion on the approximation of cultural and social capital. However, previous studies that aimed to explore the determinants of subjective social status indicate that the predictive power of the proxies selected in this work is robust (Evans and Kelley 2004;Lindemann and Saar 2014;Poppitz 2016). Finally, the ALLBUS survey lacks data for one frequently included dimension: health. ...
Measuring multidimensional inequality by means of a univariate index requires weighting the dimensions of inequality. This paper explores the normative and empirical problems involved in measuring inequality by estimating hedonic weights on the basis of German microdata. In contrast to previous works, the perception of inequality, derived from subjective social status, has been used to estimate a weighting scheme that includes five dimensions. By aggregating outcomes using a generalized Gini and the hedonic weights, annual multidimensional economic inequality (MDEI) was calculated for the period from 2000 to 2016. The results show that during this period MDEI is significantly higher than when equal weights are used, but lower than income inequality. Until 2006, multidimensional inequality in Germany increased at the same pace as income inequality, but since 2008, the trend of MDEI points downwards if one assumes imperfect substitution between dimensions. The counterfactual decomposition reveals that income contributes to inequality more than any other dimension, but the exceptional reduction in unemployment is the major cause of the decline by the MDEI.
... A ranking of 1 implies belonging to the bottom of society, while a ranking of 10 indicates being positioned at the top. A very similar question is included in the ISSP (International Social Survey Programme), a cross-sectional household survey of European countries, and has been analyzed in studies focusing on cross-country comparisons (see, e.g., Lindemann and Saar 2014;Poppitz 2016 andSaar et al. 2017). ...
This paper studies the long-term consequences of unemployment on different dimensions of social exclusion. Based on longitudinal linked survey and administrative data from Germany and an event study analysis combined with inverse propensity score weighting, I document that becoming unemployed has lasting adverse effects on both individuals’ material well-being and their subjective perception of social status and integration, persisting even after four years. An examination of effect heterogeneity underscores that the enduring effects of job loss are more pronounced for individuals confronted with challenging labor market conditions, those with a history of repeated unemployment, and individuals with lower levels of educational attainment.
... El empleo de viñetas genera resultados distintos a las escalas usualmente aplicadas para medir la pertenencia a estratos o clases sociales mediante preguntas cerradas en encuestas. Esas escalas son normalmente de dos tipos: en primer lugar, las escalas de estatus subjetivo que solicitan a las personas indicar dónde se sitúan en una graduación generalmente de 1 a 10, desde el escalón más bajo al más alto (Castillo;Miranda, & Madero, 2013;Evans, & Kelley, 2004;Forsé, & Parodi, 2011;Lindemann, & Saar, 2014;Lora, & Fajardo, 2013;Poppitz, 2016). El segundo tipo de escala registra la identificación del encuestado entre unas cinco alternativas de clase social (Andersen, & Curtis, 2012;Elbert, & Pérez, 2018;Hout, 2008;Valenzuela et al., 2008). ...
El objetivo de este artículo es comprender cómo definen los individuos su posición social durante la crisis sociopolítica abierta por el estallido social del 2019 en Chile. Se utiliza una encuesta basada en viñetas en una muestra estadísticamente representativa en Santiago y Puerto Montt. Los resultados muestran que las dos formas principales de nombrar la posición social subjetiva, según clase social u otros atributos, abarcan a una similar cantidad de individuos. Los encuestados que apelan a clase social se autoclasifican preferentemente en la clase media baja, mientras quienes hacen referencia a otros atributos tienden a posicionarse subjetivamente en la clase baja. También se estima en qué medida el tipo de posición subjetiva depende de las condiciones socioeconómicas de los respondentes.
... Cruces, Perez-Truglia, and Tetaz (2013) first documented this bias using data from Argentina. Since then, other studies have documented this same middle-class bias in other countries: see, for example,Poppitz (2016) andBublitz (2017).42 Indeed,Frick, Iijima, and Ishii (2018) shows that, under some assumptions about payoffs and the information structure, this type of "assortativity neglect" is not only one possible equilibrium, but the unique equilibrium.43 ...
In 2001, Norwegian tax records became easily accessible online, allowing everyone in the country to observe the incomes of everyone else. According to the income comparisons model, this change in transparency can widen the gap in well-being between richer and poorer individuals. Using survey data from 1985–2013 and multiple identification strategies, we show that the higher transparency increased the gap in happiness between richer and poorer individuals by 29 percent, and it increased the life satisfaction gap by 21 percent. We provide back-of-the-envelope estimates of the importance of income comparisons, and discuss implications for the ongoing debate on transparency policies. (JEL D31, H24, I31, K34)
... 8 Social status hierarchies are conceptually and empirically distinct from pure economic hierarchies of income, wealth, or occupational class (Chan and Goldthorpe, 2007;Weber, 1974). However, in practice individuals who are economically disadvantaged are more likely to see themselves as occupying a low position in the status hierarchy than those who are better off (Evans and Kelley, 2004;Miyakawa et al., 2012;Poppitz, 2016;Singh-Manoux, Adler and Marmot, 2003). 9 Of particular importance is the concept of status anxiety, a negative social emotion experienced by people who feel that they have failed to live up to shared ideals of esteem and respect (de Botton, 2004;Schneider, 2019;Wilkinson and Pickett, 2009). ...
In this thesis I investigate how an individual’s economic position and the context they live in affects their sympathy for the poor. Poverty and welfare receipt are stigmatised across high income countries; such attitudes reduce support for redistribution and exacerbate the negative impact of poverty on wellbeing. Across three empirical chapters, I use attitudinal data from the UK and Europe to investigate the relationship between individual advantage, broader economic context, and the prevalence of stigmatising stereotypes about welfare recipients and the poor. I apply an innovative perspective combining qualitative research on the experiences of people in poverty and comparative political economy work on inequality and redistribution to address neglected topics in the study of deservingness perceptions. In the first empirical chapter I argue that those in more disadvantaged economic positions have more sympathetic attitudes towards welfare recipients. However, this relationship is counteracted by the role of social status and authoritarian attitudes, which can make the disadvantaged hold less sympathetic views. The second chapter uses survey data from twenty-seven European countries to show that individuals in more unequal nations are more likely to believe that laziness rather than injustice is the cause of poverty. I argue that a plausible explanation of this relationship is status anxiety among disadvantaged individuals. In the third chapter I conduct the first longitudinal analysis of the association between area level unemployment and attitudes towards the unemployed, finding little evidence of a meaningful effect of exposure on stigmatising stereotypes. Overall, this thesis argues that status anxiety plays a major role in shaping stigmatising stereotypes, explaining why people are less sympathetic towards the poor in high inequality contexts, and why disadvantaged individuals often hold especially negative attitudes.
... The key results (without individual-level coefficients) are reported in Table 2. Model 1 indicates that the average subjective social status of the population declines considerably across countries as the top 10% share of income increases, and the interaction term in Model 2 indicates that subjective social status declines the most among people with lower incomes (for full results, see Table A4 in Online Supplemental Information). 11 Model 3 in Table 2 shows that these results are robust when the estimation is conditioned on GDP per capita (Lindemann & Saar, 2014;Poppitz, 2016). Using the top 20% of income as the measure for income inequality yields similar results (Models 4-6 in Table A4). ...
We argue that support for parties of the radical right and left can usefully be understood as a problem of social integration—an approach that brings together economic and cultural explanations for populism. With comparative survey data, we assess whether support for parties of the radical right and left is associated with feelings of social marginalization. We find that people who feel more socially marginal—because they lack strong attachment to the normative order, social engagement, or a sense of social respect—are more likely to be alienated from mainstream politics and to support radical parties. We also find an association between indicators for recent economic and cultural developments often said to affect social status and feelings of social marginalization, especially among people with low incomes or educational attainment. We conclude that problems of social integration and subjective social status deserve more attention from scholars of comparative political behavior.
... 16 In the preceding estimations, we focused on variation in the absolute level of social status across respondents at a single point in time (namely, the level of social status they report on a ten-point scale), using fixed effects to adjust for variations in the national mean. 17 However, these national means vary considerably across countries and time in response to a wide range of factors, including most notably the aggregate performance of the economy; and, for the purposes of understanding why support for rightwing populism may have risen over time within some sub-groups of the populace, the most relevant factor is how the status of those groups has changed relative to the status of other groups (Lindemann and Saar 2014;Poppitz 2016). Therefore, in this diachronic analysis, we will focus on the relative social status of a group, namely, the distance between the average level of subjective social status reported by members of the group and the mean level of subjective social status within the society as a whole at that point in time. ...
This paper explores the factors that have recently increased support for candidates and causes of the populist right across the developed democracies, especially among a core group of working-class men. In the context of debates about whether the key causal factors are economic or cultural, we contend that an effective analysis must rest on understanding how economic and cultural developments interact to generate support for populism. We suggest that one way to do so is to see status anxiety as a proximate factor inducing support for populism, and economic and cultural developments as factors that combine to precipitate such anxiety. Using cross-national survey data from 20 developed democracies, we assess the viability of this approach. We show that lower levels of subjective social status are associated with support for right populist parties, identify a set of economic and cultural developments likely to have depressed the social status of men without a college education, and show that the relative social status of those men has declined since 1987 in many of the developed democracies. We conclude that status effects provide one pathway through which economic and cultural developments may combine to increase support for the populist right.
Die vorliegende Kurzexpertise analysiert Daten und Debatten zur sozialen Ungleichheit in Deutschland und darauf bezogene Einstellungen und insbesondere die Erwartungen an sozialstaatliches Handeln. Ziel ist es, eine Übersicht und systematische Auswertung demoskopischer und sozialwissenschaftlicher Umfragen und Studien hinsichtlich der Einstellungen zu sozialer Ungleichheit und ihren Ursachen sowie damit gegebenenfalls verbundenen Erwartungen an Sozialpolitik zu leisten. Das Risiko arm zu sein ist seit 2005 relativ konstant geblieben, allerdings sind einige Bevölkerungsgruppen davon besonders betroffen. Erwerbstätigkeit stellt den zentralen Faktor zur Verhinderung von Armut dar. Die Ungleichheit der Einkommensverteilung wird durch sozialstaatliche Umverteilung begrenzt. Vorliegende Umfragen und Studien weisen durchweg auf ein hohes Ungerechtigkeitsempfinden der Bevölkerung in Bezug auf die Einkommensverteilung hin. Zugleich zeigen die datenbasierten Befunde aus der Forschung, dass die Wahrnehmung der eigenen Situation und die Wahrnehmung der allgemeinen Lage häufig auseinanderfallen. In den Studien wird eine überwältigende Zustimmung für die Zuständigkeit des Staates für die soziale Sicherung deutlich, insbesondere in der Alters- und Krankenversicherung. Die vorliegenden Studien können keine kausalen Antworten darauf liefern, warum die wahrgenommene Ungleichheit nicht mit der tatsächlichen Verteilungssituation übereinstimmt.
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