Publication Type
Journal Article
Version
submittedVersion
Publication Date
1-2022
Abstract
Drawing on a recent perspective that inconsistent class identities can negatively impact psychological outcomes, the current research explored if the relative benefit of higher subjective social class for life satisfaction would differ depending on whether it is consistent with one’s objective social class. In Study 1, across two independent samples from Singapore (n = 1,045) and the United States (n = 492), higher subjective social class predicted higher life satisfaction more strongly among those high in objective social class, but less strongly among those low in objective social class. In Study 2, these patterns were replicated in another large U.S. sample (n = 1,030), and appeared to be driven by lower status-based identity uncertainty linked to higher subjective social class perceptions among high objective social class participants. The role of class-identity perceptions in explaining social class disparities in subjective well-being is discussed.
Keywords
identity uncertainty, life satisfaction, social class, subjective well -being
Discipline
Social Psychology | Social Psychology and Interaction
Research Areas
Psychology
Publication
Asian Journal of Social Psychology
Volume
25
Issue
1
First Page
60
Last Page
74
ISSN
1367-2223
Identifier
10.1111/ajsp.12488
Publisher
Wiley
Citation
TANG, Bek Wuay, & TAN, Jacinth Jia Xin.(2022). Subjective social class and life satisfaction: Role of class consistency and identity uncertainty. Asian Journal of Social Psychology, 25(1), 60-74.
Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/3451
Copyright Owner and License
Authors
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Additional URL
https://doi.org/10.1111/ajsp.12488