Advancing developmental intergroup perspectives on social class

Abstract

Recent research has contributed to developmental scientists’ understanding of how children and adolescents reason about social class in relation to themselves, others, and their economic, social, and cultural world. To advance developmental intergroup perspectives on social class, in this article, we (1) define social class, (2) evaluate whether the evidence about social class aligns with key predictions from developmental intergroup theory (DIT) and social identity development theory (SIDT), (3) outline how complementary insights from DIT and SIDT can be integrated to describe and explain developing concepts of social class, and (4) highlight what is unique about social class and additional considerations important to the study of social class that developmental intergroup researchers need to consider. In each section, we emphasize strengths and limitations of the research and offers suggestions for ongoing research.