Social class differences produce social group preferences

Abstract

Some social groups are higher in socioeconomic status than others and the former tend to be favored over the latter. The present research investigated whether observing group differences in wealth alone can directly cause children to prefer wealthier groups. In Experiment 1, 4–5-year-old children developed a preference for a wealthy novel group over a less wealthy group. In Experiment 2, children did not develop preferences when groups differed by another kind of positive/negative attribute (i.e., living in brightly-colored houses vs. drab houses), suggesting that wealth is a particularly meaningful group distinction. Lastly, in Experiment 3, the effect of favoring novel wealthy groups was moderated by group membership: Children assigned to a wealthy group showed ingroup favoritism, but those assigned to the less wealthy group did not. These experiments shed light on why children tend to be biased in favor of social groups that are higher in socioeconomic status.

How do young children expect others to address resource inequalities between groups?

“…Related research indicates that, during early childhood, children themselves positively evaluate and prefer to associate with individuals and groups who have more resources (Horwitz et al, 2014;Li et al, 2014;Shutts et al, 2016). Following from these implications, our findings suggest that 5-and 6-year-olds also recognize that preference for an advantaged group, when manifested in a member of a disadvantaged group, may diminish that individual's tendency to maximize opportunities to reduce the group-based resource disparity.…”

“…We also drew on related work on young children's understanding of how groups differ in their access to resources. For example, during early childhood, children begin to recognize that some social groups are higher in status than others (e.g., Nesdale & Flesser, 2001) and have more resources than others (Horwitz, Shutts, & Olson, 2014;Li, Spitzer, & Olson, 2014;Shutts, Brey, Dornbusch, Slywotzky, & Olson, 2016).…”

“…We sampled 3-to 6-year-olds because during the preschool years children consider both existing inequalities (e.g., Li et al, 2014) and group affiliations (e.g., Renno & Shutts, 2015) when allocating resources themselves, and they also begin to independently recognize that some social groups are higher in status or have more resources than others (Horwitz et al, 2014;Nesdale & Flesser, 2001). Thus, children may begin to recognize the roles of fairness considerations, ingroup preferences, and group status differences in others' allocation decisions during early childhood as well.…”

Children rectify inequalities for disadvantaged groups.

“…One issue with this approach is that any observed resource allocation in favor of the participant’s ingroup cannot be disentangled from preferential allocation to the (generally) resource-advantaged group. This is an important distinction because related research suggests that children positively evaluate and prefer to associate with those who have more resources (Horwitz, Shutts, & Olson, 2014; Li et al, 2014). …”

How social-class stereotypes maintain inequality

“…However, preschoolers, when specifically asked, can classify individuals as rich and poor, and by the age of six they perceive a rich man as more competent (e.g., hardworking, smart) than a poor man [14]. Children very early (4–6 years-old) develop a preference for wealthy groups [15,16] and use wealth cues to form their preferences toward peers, inferring their competence and popularity, with White children linking race to social class as adults do [16]. By the beginning of middle school, children become aware of their own subjective social status, primarily informed by purchasing power (wealth), and they hold more negative stereotypes of poor than middle-class and rich people [16].…”