U.S. and British Perceptions of Class

Abstract

This research tests one aspect of the widely held belief that Americans are less class conscious than Europeans. Analysis of subjective class placements in the United States and Great Britain indicates that there is virtually no difference in the way social structural position is used to define middle- or working-class placement. The lack of any statistically significant interactions suggest that class is as clearly perceived in the United States as in Great Britain. The conventional wisdom about differences in the class consciousness of the two societies is probably the result of the substantial differences in the class basis of party affiliation and voting. Given the similarities in the perception of class, the political differences would be better explained by structural differences in the party systems than by psychological differences in the voters themselves.