Socioeconomic status and the structure of the self‐concept
Open accessAbstract
Individuals have a myriad of potential identities that they can use to define who they are, yet little research has investigated which types of identities people tend to prioritize within their self‐concepts, and how this may vary across individuals. We analyse data from two large UK social surveys ( N s = 16,966 and 44,903) that assessed the importance respondents attached to various identities within their self‐concepts, and find that social class plays a crucial role. Our results show that respondents attached high importance to identities that are indicative of their social class (income, education, and professional), and at least as much importance as they gave to identities more commonly studied by psychologists (such as ethnicity, nationality, or gender). Furthermore, respondents’ objective social class was one of the strongest predictors of the importance they attached to different types of identities: Higher class respondents placed greater importance on identities that are indicative of their social class, but less importance on identities based on basic demographics, chosen communities, or their sociocultural orientation. Our results suggest that social class plays an important role in structuring the self‐concept, and that researchers should pay more attention to the importance of social class to self and identity processes.
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The psychology of social class: How socioeconomic status impacts thought, feelings, and behaviour
Manstead, A. S. R. (2018) · British Journal of Social Psychology · doi:10.1111/bjso.12251 · Cited by 831 · see citing works
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- Authors
- Easterbrook, M. J., Kuppens, T., & Manstead, A. S. R.
- Affiliations
- University of Sussex (GB)
- University of Groningen (NL)
- Cardiff University (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Easterbrook, Matthew J.
- Venue
- British Journal of Social Psychology
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2019-06-07
- Volume
- 59
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 66-86
- ISSN
- 0144-6665 (ISSN-L)
- 2044-8309
- OpenAlex
- W2952430541
- Cited by
- 91
- References
- 9
- Citations by year
- 2026: 11 · 2025: 19 · 2024: 15 · 2023: 13 · 2022: 16 · 2021: 7 · 2020: 7 · 2019: 2 · 2018: 1
- FWCI
- 16.10
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- British Journal of Social Psychology (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- ORCA Online Research @Cardiff (Cardiff University) (acceptedVersion)
- Sussex Research Online (University of Sussex) (submittedVersion)
- Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- ORCA Online Research @Cardiff (Cardiff University) (submittedVersion)
- University of Groningen research database (University of Groningen / Centre for Information Technology) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Funders
- Economic and Social Research Council (ES/K003534/1)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Social and Intergroup Psychology
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Marketing › Consumer Behavior in Brand Consumption and Identification
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Social Power and Status Dynamics
- Keywords
- self-concept, socioeconomic status, social class, identity salience, income, professional status, ethnicity, gender, nationality, sociocultural orientation, self-concept structure
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Educational Status, Ethnicity, Female, Gender Identity, United Kingdom, Humans, Income, Male, Middle Aged, Surveys and Questionnaires, Self Concept, Social Class, Social Identification, Socioeconomic Factors, Professional Role
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