Rich man, poor man: Developmental differences in attributions and perceptions

Sigelman, Carol K.

doi:10.1016/j.jecp.2012.06.011

Cited by 113 publications

(128 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…Although researchers have not examined whether children in elementary school can identify their own social class group, some existing research has examined children's beliefs about the differences between social classes. Toward the end of elementary school (i.e., between the ages of 10 and 12), children begin to show links between internal attributes (e.g., working hard, being smart) and social class group membership (Leahy, ; Sigelman, ). Most of these beliefs are stereotypes in which being poor is associated with more negative attributes than being rich.…”

Section: Children's Understanding Of Social Class: a Developmental Inmentioning

confidence: 99%

Elementary School Children's Reasoning About Social Class: A Mixed‐Methods Study

et al. 2015

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The current study examined children's identification and reasoning about their subjective social status (SSS), their beliefs about social class groups (i.e., the poor, middle class, and rich), and the associations between the two. Study participants were 117 10- to 12-year-old children of diverse racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic backgrounds attending a laboratory elementary school in Southern California. Results indicated that children's SSS ratings correlated with indicators of family socioeconomic status and were informed by material possessions, lifestyle characteristics, and social and societal comparisons. Children rated the poor as having fewer positive attributes and more negative attributes than the middle class, and fewer positive attributes than the rich. Lower SSS children held less positive attitudes toward the poor than children with middle SSS ratings.

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Section: Children's Understanding Of Social Class: a Developmental Inmentioning

confidence: 99%

Elementary School Children's Reasoning About Social Class: A Mixed‐Methods Study

et al. 2015

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“…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].…”

Section: Social Class Stereotypes In Children and Adolescentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Young people’s explanations concerning the causes of wealth and poverty become more articulated with age [14]. Adolescents have more knowledge of wealth than poverty (as the wealthy are the models to imitate).…”

Section: Social Class Stereotypes In Children and Adolescentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

How social-class stereotypes maintain inequality

Durante

Fiske

2017

Current Opinion in Psychology

130

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Social class stereotypes support inequality through various routes: ambivalent content, early appearance in children, achievement consequences, institutionalization in education, appearance in cross-class social encounters, and prevalence in the most unequal societies. Class-stereotype content is ambivalent, describing lower-SES people both negatively (less competent, less human, more objectified), and sometimes positively, perhaps warmer than upper-SES people. Children acquire the wealth aspects of class stereotypes early, which become more nuanced with development. In school, class stereotypes advantage higher-SES students, and educational contexts institutionalize social-class distinctions. Beyond school, well-intentioned face-to-face encounters ironically draw on stereotypes to reinforce the alleged competence of higher-status people and sometimes the alleged warmth of lower-status people. Countries with more inequality show more of these ambivalent stereotypes of both lower- and higher-SES people. At a variety of levels and life stages, social-class stereotypes reinforce inequality, but constructive contact can undermine them; future efforts need to address high-status privilege and to query more heterogeneous samples.

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“…By the end of the elementary years, for example, children endorse stereotypes linking economic success with personal merits (e.g., hard work, intelligence) and economic disadvantage with personal failings (e.g., laziness) (Shutts et al, 2016; Sigelman, 2012; Woods, Kurtz-Costes, & Rowley, 2005), and further exclude stigmatized peers based on these stereotypes (Abrams & Killen, 2014; Bucchianeri, Eisenberg, & Neumark-Sztainer, 2013). Thus, understanding children’s assumptions about the causes of social resource inequality provides a window on the origins of stereotypes that reinforce a damaging cycle of inequality (Abrams & Killen, 2014; Brown & Bigler, 2005).…”

Section: Children’s Explanations For Group-based Resource Inequalitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Children's perceptions of social resource inequality

Elenbaas

Killen

2017

Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology

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Children’s perceptions of social resource inequalities were investigated by measuring spontaneous explanations for race-based disparities in access to societal resources. Fifth graders (N = 139, M = 11.14 years, SD = .61 years) viewed animated vignettes depicting hypothetical resource inequalities between institutions serving children of African-American and European-American background. Children frequently explained disparities in terms of institutions’ differing financial resources, revealing awareness that economic inequalities often underlie groups’ differential access to societal resources. Further, children attributed inequalities to preferential treatment more often when they witnessed African-Americans at a disadvantage than when they witnessed European-Americans at a disadvantage, demonstrating awareness that racial minority groups are more likely to experience restricted access to resources. Finally, children who reasoned about preferential treatment judged inequality, and actions that perpetuated inequality, more negatively than children who attributed inequalities to institutions’ differing needs, revealing a link between awareness of discrimination and rejection of social inequalities.

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Rich man, poor man: Developmental differences in attributions and perceptions

Cited by 113 publications

References 41 publications

Elementary School Children's Reasoning About Social Class: A Mixed‐Methods Study

Elementary School Children's Reasoning About Social Class: A Mixed‐Methods Study

How social-class stereotypes maintain inequality

Children's perceptions of social resource inequality

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