Social class and self-concept consistency: Implications for subjective well-being and felt authenticity

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Abstract
Current accounts of social class (SES) hold that for upper-SES individuals, material advantages promote an orientation to the self and tendency to anchor behavior on internal states (e.g., traits), while for lower-SES individuals, fewer resources promote an orientation to others and responsiveness to the context. I extend this view to the domain of self-perception, demonstrating across two studies that upper-SES individuals express greater consistency in their self-views across contexts than lower SES-individuals, and that self-concept consistency is more strongly tied to subjective well-being among upper- than lower-SES individuals. In Study 2, I show that self-concept consistency is more strongly connected to felt authenticity among upper- than lower-SES individuals. I offer potential directions for future research in the General Discussion.
Funding Information
  • Bates Faculty Development Fund (n/a)

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