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Definition
Class identification is the social class one believes one belongs to. As such, class identification is a subjective perception that does not necessarily coincide with objective notions of class position, such as occupational status, class schemes based on one’s occupation, (household) income, job security, or educational level. In social research, class identification is often taken to be an indicator for consciousness of an objective class position or as an indicator for class identity, signaling a sense of cultural belonging to a class irrespective of one’s actual class position.
Description
Class identification is a one-dimensional measurement of one’s class position – i.e., a respondent is asked to indicate his or her own class position on a scale with four or five categories ranging from “lower” or “working class” to “upper middle” or “upper class.”
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References
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Achterberg, P. (2023). Class Identification. In: Maggino, F. (eds) Encyclopedia of Quality of Life and Well-Being Research. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-17299-1_398
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-17299-1_398
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