Subjective social class and individual preferences for redistribution

Abstract

Purpose The recent increase in economic inequalities in many countries heightened the debates about policy preferences on income distribution. Attitudes toward inequality vary greatly across countries and numerous explanations are offered to clarify the factors leading to support for redistribution. The purpose of this paper is to examine the link between subjective social class and redistributive demands by jointly considering the individual and national factors. The author argues that subjective measures of social positions can be highly explanatory for preferences about redistribution policies. Design/methodology/approach The author uses data from 48 countries gathered by World Values Survey and empirically tests the impact of self-positioning into classes by multilevel ordered logit model. Several model specifications and estimation strategies have been employed to obtain consistent estimates and to check for the robustness of the results. Findings The findings show that, in addition to objective factors, subjective class status is highly explanatory for redistributive preferences across countries. The author also exhibits that there is interaction between self-ranking of social status and national context. The author’s estimations from the multilevel models verify that subjective social class has greater explanatory power in more equal societies. This is in contrast to the previous studies that establish a positive link between inequality and redistribution. Originality/value The paper contributes to the literature by introducing subjective social class as a determinant. Self-ranked positions can be very relieving about policy preferences given the information these categorizations encompass about individuals’ perceptions about their and others’ place in the society.

Trust and the educational gap in the demand for redistribution: Evidence from the World Values Survey and the European Value Study

“…In accordance with previous research, the scores were reversed such that a higher score indicates stronger support for redistribution. This score has been adopted by previous international comparative studies on support for redistribution (Duman, 2020; Sealey and Handy, 2022).…”

Is everyone really middle class? Social class position and identification in Alberta

“…Subjective social class identification can be understood as an individual's perception of their position within a hierarchy relative to others (Duman, 2020; Harrits & Pedersen, 2018; Kraus et al., 2009). How individuals perceive their social position depends not only on what they view as objective characteristics, but it also relies on how they experience society and how they perceive their current and future positions in comparison with others (Lindemann, 2007).…”

“…Most people identify as members of the middle class and tend to place themselves toward the center of the social hierarchy in cross‐national studies, regardless of the specific measure used (Duman, 2020; Evans & Kelly, 2004). National studies on New Zealand (Haddon, 2015), England (McGovern & Nazroo, 2015), Germany (Präg, 2020), Poland (Trappmann et al., 2017), Denmark (Harrits & Pedersen, 2018), Korea (Kim et al., 2018b), and Canada (Genest‐Grégoire et al., 2019; Livingstone &, Scholtz, 2016) also show a strong preference for identifying as middle class.…”

“…Although individuals often consider central factors like income, education, and employment when reporting their social classes, identity is contingent on membership in different status groups and perceptions of shared lifestyles, interests, and experiences (Jackman & Jackman, 1973;Jarness, 2017;Wright, 1985). Identity also varies regionally and with levels of economic inequality, development, redistribution policies, and political polarization (Andersen & Curtis, 2012;Curtis, 2013Curtis, , 2016Duman, 2020;Evans & Kelley, 2004). In this exploratory study, we examine whether and how class position and class identity come together in people's lives in Alberta, Canada.…”

Feeling Insecure and Blaming Immigrants: relationship between subjective risks and welfare chauvinism

“…Hence, personal evaluations of living standards and expectations about income might better capture the subtle aspects of social status (Operario et al, 2004). It has been found that subjective class positions are explanatory for redistributive preferences even after controlling for objective indicators such as income, education, and labor market status (Duman, 2019). If more individuals in an economy consider themselves as materially deprived and suppose that their income prospects would not get better, they would become more hostile towards outgroup members.…”