Subjective, intersubjective, and objective social statuses: How do people imagine social inequality?

Previous studies have shown that although subjective social status is related to objective social status, these statuses do not necessarily coincide with each other. Consequently, the relationship between subjective social status and social inequality had not been sufficiently explored. Accordingly, this study explored how and why they are related to each other by introducing the new concept of intersubjective social status. To measure subjective and intersubjective social statuses, I analyzed data from the Stratification and Social Psychology Survey in 2022 (SSP2022) and an online survey experiment by using ordered and multi-level ordered logistic regression models. The analysis revealed that although subjective and intersubjective social statuses share basic features, they are not the same concept. Subjective social status emphasizes the social inequality of opportunities, whereas intersubjective social status emphasizes the social inequality of outcomes. Additionally, the results revealed that the association between subjective and intersubjective (or objective) social statuses might vary depending on social status groups.