Persistence of Poverty: How Measures of Socioeconomic Status Have Changed Over Time

Abstract

Socioeconomic status (SES) is a common measure used to gauge social, cultural, and financial capital in scientific literature. Over time, SES research has produced an extremely wide and inconsistently used variety of SES variables and components. This study will review research that estimates SES and will examine common components and trends from the inception of its measurement to present data. A systematic review protocol was used to gather literature related to SES, and a historical analysis was conducted to examine the SES variables and their components that were most commonly used in the literature. Results displayed varying trends by decade, with earlier SES measures including components on social capital and more recent measures incorporating aspects of cultural and economic capital. Subjective perspectives of social class became more common toward the turn of the century, and few measures included components from more asset-based frameworks. The Big 3 measures (parental education, parental occupation, and income) have been common measures across time.