Socioeconomic Status and Self-Regard

Abstract

Past research has shown that the socioeconomic status (e.g., income or education) is associated with people’s self-evaluation, such as global self-esteem. In the present research, we argue that socioeconomic status also affects people’s belief of possessing the same rights as others (i.e., self-respect). In a cross-sectional study ( N = 298) and a longitudinal study ( N = 379), we investigated the relationships between income and education with three forms of self-regard. The only consistent finding was that income was related to self-respect over time even when controlling for self-love and self-competence, the core and well-studied components of global self-esteem. We discuss the significance of our findings with regard to social justice and democracy.