Attitude Differences Between Social Classes Among Undergraduate Students

Date

2021-12

Authors

Armstrong, Ian

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Abstract

There has been an increased interest in social status over the past few decades however, it is still understudied. The present study attempts to fill some of the gaps within the existing literature regarding differences between the classes. We hypothesized that social class origin of the participant will be positively correlated with annual childhood household income and parental educational attainment. Our second two hypotheses used a Survey of Attitudes to measure participant outlooks. Hypothesis two predicted that the upper classes would show greater support for the arts, the importance of fresh air and exercise, and creative work. Our third hypothesis predicted that lower classes, will show higher support for the Democratic party, traditional gender roles, the American way of life, and more positive attitudes towards both smoking tobacco and conforming to group opinion. The hypotheses were tested with a correlational analysis and several t-tests. The first hypothesis was not supported, and the second two hypotheses were only partially supported. These results are important because they help illuminate the need to effectively operationalize social status and that there are still apparent gaps in the literature. This study suggests that the average university undergraduate does not understand the construct of social class.

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Keywords

Social class, SES, Social status, Social class origin

Citation

Armstrong, I. (2021). <i>Attitude differences between social classes among undergraduate students</i> (Unpublished thesis). Texas State University, San Marcos, Texas.

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