Abstract

An emerging literature suggests that people have basic needs for social status which is defined as one’s comparative social ranking in terms of social esteem an respect. Building on the literature, the present research examined social class differences in the relative importance of internal vs. external attributes of social status. The results from two studies showed that external attributes such as income and economic conditions are relatively more important for lower-class individuals, whereas internal attributes such as attitudes and elegance are relatively more important for higher-class individuals. Specifically, in Study 1, social class was negatively associated with perceived importance of external attributes in determining social status and yet, positively associated with relative importance of internal attributes over external attributes. In Study 2, lower-class participants reported that their social status was higher when they believed that external criteria of social status were met than when they believed that internal criteria of social status were met. In both studies, subjective social class showed stronger effects than objective social class. Taken together, these findings demonstrate that one’s perception of social status systematically varies as a function of social class.