Where you come from matters: familial class background plays a greater role for status-related judgements in France than in the United States (Tu procedencia importa: la clase social familiar de pertenencia tiene más peso en los juicios sobre el estatus social en Francia que en Estados Unidos)

Abstract

ABSTRACT The present research investigated to what extent two Western cultures, France and the United States, differed in making status-related judgements based on a person’s familial class background. Consistent with the eco-historical origins of French and American status beliefs, Study 1 (N = 77) showed that French more than American participants perceived an unknown community member with higher (compared to lower) familial class background to have greater status-related characteristics. Study 2 (N = 213) showed that French more than American participants also expected a job candidate with higher (compared to lower) familial class background to attain higher status in the workplace. Study 3 (N = 231) experimentally manipulated upward mobility beliefs in a monocultural sample of American participants. Results showed that when participants were made to believe that upward mobility in society was low (but not when high), information about a person’s familial class background was the basis of status-related judgements. Our findings speak to the importance that sociocultural contexts play for the understanding of different aspects of social class.