Development and Validation of the Privileged Social Class Attitudes Scale (PSCAS)

Abstract

The goal of the study was to develop a scale to assess the social class attitudinal profiles of people with social class privilege. Based on social class theory and other models of privileged identities, we generated an item pool reflecting different attitudinal profiles. In Study 1, exploratory factor analysis revealed a scale with four core social class attitude subscales (Social Class Prejudice, Acknowledgement, Awareness, and Action) and three additional scales reflecting independent social class constructs (Social Class Identity Centrality, Guilt, and Fortune). In Study 2, we found that the subscales fit together in a multifactor correlational model and established construct validity. However, the Action subscale surprisingly correlated positively with the Prejudice scale. Post hoc analyses revealed this correlation existed only for those high in just world beliefs. Taken together, the Privileged Social Class Attitudes Scale provides a new tool for investigating the attitudinal profiles of people with social class privilege.