With whom, and about what, do we compete for social status? Effects of social closeness and relevance of reference groups for positional concerns

• DOI: 10.1016/j.socec.2022.101867
• Publication Date: 2022-03-11T07:25:53Z
• Authors: Ingvild Mageli; Andrea Mannberg; Eirik Eriksen Heen
• Keywords: Closeness; Relevance; Identification; Social status

We used an experimental approach to test if there is a link between positional preferences and the social closeness relevance of reference group. More specifically, we tested people are more when they compare with friends colleagues than anonymous person in society. further gender members group important, can be linked individual's identity. Our results lend support hypothesis that identification domain correlated concerns domain. However, contrast our hypotheses, find comparisons society trigger among significantly larger share participants do or colleagues. Finally, although both participant has effect on some domains, analysis also indicates not all domains gendered. discuss potential explanations behind these findings.