Which socio-economic comparison groups do individuals choose and why?

Gugushvili, Alexi

doi:10.1080/14616696.2020.1793214

Cited by 15 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 66 publications

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“…It is likely that the reference group for the earlier generations in the Polish context were the parents who experienced the hardship and atrocities of two world wars and the struggle for independence, while for more contemporary generations parental levels of affluence did not seem to be much different from their own. Furthermore, we know that for many individuals in the post-communist countries, parents are not the main reference group in their social comparisons (Gugushvili 2021b).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

What are the Trends and Explanations of Perceived Social Mobility in Poland?

Gugushvili

Zelinska

2022

Applied Research Quality Life

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There is an increasing interest in the subjective aspect of socioeconomic position and its implications for wellbeing across social science disciplines. One of the emerging dimensions of this scholarship is research on perceived social mobility, its determinants, and consequences. To date, most existing evidence in this area is based on cross-sectional data and corresponding methods, which are biased by the unobserved heterogeneity of individuals. The latter calls into question existing findings on the nature of perceived social mobility. To provide more robust estimates of trends over time and explanations of perceived social mobility, we explore two complementary datasets covering the period between the late 1990s and the late 2010s in Poland. Due to the major economic, political and social changes, exploring subjective perceptions of intergenerational mobility might be particularly important in post-communist settings. The analysis allows us to conclude that, over the last two decades, significant changes in perceived social mobility have taken place in Poland. In terms of the individual-level predictors of this trend, cross-sectional and random-effects analyses over-estimate the importance of certain characteristics, such as age, education, or size of locality, yet, based on the results from more robust fixed-effects estimates, we conclude that factors such as subjective social position, household income, and objective social mobility are important explanations as to why some people believe they are doing better or worse than their parents.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

What are the Trends and Explanations of Perceived Social Mobility in Poland?

Gugushvili

Zelinska

2022

Applied Research Quality Life

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“…To account for the possible effect of social comparison and its moderating effect, we used the following LITS question: “When thinking of your current economic situation, which of these is most likely to be your benchmark?” All respondents had four answer categories to choose from “how your parents lived at your age”; “how your friends and neighbours live”; “how the domestic elite lives”; and “how people live in Western Europe”. Respondents could also select “no comparison group” [ 27 , 40 ]. We separated the comparison group with friends and neighbours from other comparison groups in our variable specification.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…All respondents had four answer categories to choose from "how your parents lived at your age"; "how your friends and neighbours live"; "how the domestic elite lives"; and "how people live in Western Europe". Respondents could also select "no comparison group" [27,40]. We separated the comparison group with friends and neighbours from other comparison groups in our variable specification.…”

Section: Predictors Of Dissatisfaction With Lifementioning

confidence: 99%

BMI and dissatisfaction with life: contextual factors and socioemotional costs of obesity

Jarosz

Gugushvili

2021

Qual Life Res

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Purpose In this study, we investigate whether individuals’ BMI categories are associated with being dissatisfied with one’s life, how this association is affected by the social comparison that individuals make, and what the role of the overall BMI levels in this process is. Methods We use data for 21,577 men and 27,415 women, collected in 2016 by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, from 34 countries in Europe, the Middle East, and Central Asia. To understand the moderating effect of contextual environment, we use multilevel mixed effect logistic regression models and data for national, regional, and cohort-specific BMI levels. Result We find that the association of BMI and dissatisfaction with life differs by gender, with overweight men being less likely to be dissatisfied with life than men with normal weight and obese women being more likely to be dissatisfied with life compared to women with normal weight. For contextual effects, we find that obese women in regions with low BMI levels are more likely to be dissatisfied with life. The effect of obesity on female life dissatisfaction is not observed in regions with high BMI levels. As for men, regional BMI levels affect the levels of life dissatisfaction but only for underweight men. Conclusions Our study adds additional nuance to the quality-of-life research by showing that the association between BMI and decreased life satisfaction is, at least partially, moderated by the contextual environment, and that the character of these effects differs by gender.

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“…The notion that individuals compare themselves within reference groups is recognised, for example, in the theoretical concepts of relative deprivation, relative status, and the social frame of reference (Perez-Asenjo, 2011 : 1413). Despite the importance assigned to these concepts and some understanding that people often compare themselves to similar others (family, friends, work colleagues), evidence of how individuals delineate their reference group for income comparison is lacking (Clark & Senik, 2010 : 573; Clark et al, 2013 : 1; Gugushvili, 2020 : 3; Senik, 2009 : 409).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…An a priori and external determination of reference groups makes it impossible to determine the characteristics of an individual’s actual reference group (van Praag, 2011 : 117) and whether it represents an individual’s actual reference group or not (Clark et al, 2009 : 519–520; Wu, 2020 : 3). A few exceptions exist where studies allowed respondents to (partly) define their reference groups according to role relationship by choosing from a list that included family, friends, colleagues, and neighbours (Clark & Senik, 2010 : 591; Goerke & Pannenberg, 2015 : 96; Gugushvili, 2020 : 9; Hyll & Schneider, 2014 : 334; Knight et al, 2009 : 637). However, with one exception, these studies did not permit multiple list items to be combined.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Don’t Look Up! Individual Income Comparisons and Subjective Well-Being of Students in Thailand

et al. 2022

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Empirical evidence supports the hypothesis that an individual’s position in an income stratum—more than the absolute income level—determines subjective well-being. However, studies on subjective well-being suffer from a critical methodological weakness: they use exogenously defined reference groups. Our study addresses this point by applying an innovative new survey instrument. We ask respondents to identify individual reference persons for income comparisons. We find that these reference persons come from a range of social groups. Interactions between personality traits and the direction of income comparisons lead to different levels of subjective well-being. This highlights the importance of collecting information on personality traits in research on subjective well-being. We conclude that questions about self-defined individual income comparisons can be a valuable and straightforward addition to future surveys.

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Which socio-economic comparison groups do individuals choose and why?

Cited by 15 publications

References 66 publications

What are the Trends and Explanations of Perceived Social Mobility in Poland?

What are the Trends and Explanations of Perceived Social Mobility in Poland?

BMI and dissatisfaction with life: contextual factors and socioemotional costs of obesity

Don’t Look Up! Individual Income Comparisons and Subjective Well-Being of Students in Thailand

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