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Journal Article
Social class culture cycles: How three gateway contexts shape selves and fuel inequality
Annual Review of Psychology
Author(s)
America’s unprecedented levels of inequality have far-reaching negative consequences
for society as a whole. Although differential access to resources
contributes to inequality, the current review illuminates how ongoing participation
in different social class contexts also gives rise to culture-specific
selves and patterns of thinking, feeling, and acting. We integrate a growing
body of interdisciplinary research to reveal how social class culture cycles
operate over the course of the lifespan and through critical gateway contexts,
including homes, schools, and workplaces. We first document how
each of these contexts socializes social class cultural differences. Then, we
demonstrate how these gateway institutions, which could provide access to
upward social mobility, are structured according to middle-class ways of being
a self and thus can fuel and perpetuate inequality. We conclude with a
discussion of intervention opportunities that can reduce inequality by taking
into account the contextual responsiveness of the self.
Date Published:
2014
Citations:
Stephens, Nicole, Hazel Rose Markus, Taylor Phillips. 2014. Social class culture cycles: How three gateway contexts shape selves and fuel inequality. Annual Review of Psychology. 611-634.