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Adolescent representations of socio‐economic status
Author(s) -
Dickinson Julie
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
british journal of developmental psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.062
H-Index - 75
eISSN - 2044-835X
pISSN - 0261-510X
DOI - 10.1111/j.2044-835x.1990.tb00850.x
Subject(s) - social class , psychology , prestige , socioeconomic status , inequality , perception , class (philosophy) , occupational prestige , variety (cybernetics) , cognition , social status , social psychology , working class , developmental psychology , sociology , demography , economics , social science , population , mathematical analysis , linguistics , philosophy , mathematics , neuroscience , artificial intelligence , politics , computer science , political science , law , market economy
The development of beliefs about the nature, causes and fairness of occupational prestige and income differentials, in subjects aged 10 to 16 years, was studied in relation to age and social class. Slight but stable age and class differences were found in perceptions of socio‐economic inequality and the kind of explanations postulated for inequality. Open‐ended questions produced a wide variety of explanations for prestige and income differentials but the reasons most commonly employed by all age and class groups were the ‘importance’ or ‘social contribution’ of the job, the ‘effort exerted’ doing the job and the ‘education’ or ‘training’ needed. Strong and stable class effects and some age effects were found in the use of references to ‘education’ or ‘training’. Judgements of the fairness of inequality were subject to class effects but largely unaffected by age. The results are discussed in relation to cognitive developmental theory and the role of social influence and socially transmitted information in the construction of socio‐economic beliefs.