Taking a social-class-in-context perspective on the psychology of social class

Abstract

Social class researchers in social psychology have pushed the field to become more focused on and attentive to the critical role of sociocultural contexts. In this article, we label and articulate the key ingredients of the approach that many social psychological researchers have come to use: what we refer to as a social-class-in-context perspective. This perspective means attending to the contextual differences in resources that create social class differences in psychology and behavior. We also suggest some additional steps that researchers can take to become even more attentive to and responsive to the important role of contexts in creating social class. As a first step, we suggest the importance of adopting a definition of social class that directly explicates its relationship to similar constructs, such as power and status, and also links it to the contexts that produce it. Second, building on this definition of social class, we then describe the importance of taking a multi-level approach to understanding how different social class contexts shape psychology and behavior. Finally, we articulate the important implications and future directions that emerge from intentionally adopting this perspective.