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Income Comparison as a Determining Mechanism of Class Identification: A Quantitative and Simulation Study Using J apanese Survey Data
Author(s) -
Maeda Yutaka,
Ishida Atsushi
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
international journal of japanese sociology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.133
H-Index - 15
eISSN - 1475-6781
pISSN - 0918-7545
DOI - 10.1111/ijjs.12010
Subject(s) - distributive property , identification (biology) , class (philosophy) , econometrics , realization (probability) , economics , survey data collection , income distribution , social class , perception , empirical research , mathematics , inequality , statistics , psychology , computer science , artificial intelligence , market economy , mathematical analysis , botany , neuroscience , pure mathematics , biology
This paper questions whether personal income comparison explains the distributive gap between income and class identification by exploring the following two issues: empirical validity of income comparison as the determinant of class identification, and theoretical validity of income comparison for the distributive gap. For the first issue, we conduct a statistical analysis using data from the S ocial S tratification and S ocial M obility surveys (1975–2005), and the S tratification and S ocial P sychology‐ I survey (2010). We find that the criteria for choosing reference groups changed historically from residential proximity to occupational equality. In addition, income comparison with sensitive to lower‐income possessors and a distorted perception of income difference significantly affected class identification, except for the year of 1985. The simulation analysis employed to examine the second issue clarified that income comparison with the above‐mentioned features yields a less skewed distribution compared to that of class identification. The data also indicates that the empirical conditions of income are satisfied for realization of this result. Thus, we could ascertain empirical and theoretical validity of income comparison as explanation for the distributive gap between income and class identification.