Conceptual definitions often define social class as a "cultural identity encompassing both a person's objective resources and their subjective rank relative to others.
Measures of objective social class in psychology have primarily focused on education, income, and/or occupation.
[11] Income, however, provides the most direct assessment of people's access to material goods (e.g., food, clothing, and shelter) and also predicts an array of psychological variables such as well being,[12] social trust,[13] personality,[14] and prosocial behavior.
Alternatively, occupations with lower prestige tend to be less admired and respected in society, pay less money, and are frequently held by people who are less educated (e.g., construction workers, janitors).
In this sense, individuals come to embody class-specific thoughts, feelings, and behaviors through learned norms, values, and expectations shared by others of similar social class backgrounds.
[25][26] To effectively navigate these contexts, low-social class individuals must rely on and work together with others for material assistance and support.
In contrast, middle-class or higher-social class contexts provide greater access to economic capital and more opportunities for choice,[27][25] fostering an independent model of self.
To be effective in these contexts they must learn to influence others, challenge the status quo, and express their own personal interests.
[29] Although both models of self can be highly useful, U.S. gateway institutions (e.g. higher education) tend to prioritize independence as the cultural ideal.
[27] Research suggests that when people from working class backgrounds enter institutions that prioritize independence, they face a cultural mismatch.
Experiencing cultural mismatch can lead people from working class backgrounds to feel uncomfortable enacting the independent behaviors required to gain access to gateway institutions.
For example, students from working class backgrounds are unlikely to apply to selective universities,[31] feel uncomfortable separating themselves from their families and communities,[32] and are more reluctant to pursue paths to organizational power when doing so requires self-interested behavior.
Lower social class individuals also tend to perceive people's emotions more accurately[37] because they pay greater attention to contextual cues.
[40] Recent research has sought to distinguish social class from other dimensions of hierarchy, such as power, or a "person's relative control over resources and ability to influence others,[41] and status, or "one's level of respect and admiration from others.
Examples of these stressors include an unstable place of residence, food insecurity, lack of access to important resources, debt, etc.
For example, similar to being low social class, being female (compared to being male) tends to promote more interdependent norms for relating to others[47] and lower status racial minorities (i.e., African Americans) tend to exhibit more relational norms compared to racial majority members (i.e., European-Americans).
[50] This parallels research on the role of stereotype threat in the performance of racial minorities and women in academic settings.