Social Identity, Social Capital, and Subjective Social Class in Three Societies

• In Event: 115 - Section on Asia and Asian America Refereed Roundtable Session and Business Meeting
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 05. Racial, Ethnic, and Class Meanings

Abstract

Does network members’ occupational status promote or demote subjective social class across societies? This study examines four hypotheses using nationally representative data simultaneously collected from the United States, urban China, and Taiwan. Social identity theory expects both absolute and relative accessed occupational status (i.e., the number of higher and lower accessed occupational positions) to advance subjective social class. Social capital theory anticipates absolute accessed occupational status and the number of higher accessed occupational positions to promote subjective social class and the number of lower accessed occupational positions to do the opposite. The relational dependence argument predicts social identity and social capital theories to be more applicable to the two Chinese societies than to the United States. The inequality structure argument expects social identity theory to be more applicable to Taiwan than to the other two societies. It predicts social capital theory to be more applicable to Taiwan than to the other two societies in the analysis of absolute occupational status and the number of higher accessed occupational positions but the opposite in the analysis of the number of lower accessed occupational positions. Results on absolute accessed occupational status and the number of higher accessed occupational positions support social identity and social capital theories in the three societies. Results on the number of lower accessed occupational positions support social identity theory in Taiwan. Across the three societies, results support the inequality structure argument.

Authors

• Lijun Song, Vanderbilt University

• Ruoh-rong Yu, Academia Sinica