Early Elementary School Children's Conceptions of Neighborhood Social Stratification and Fairness

In a time of unprecedented levels of income inequality, American adults support a more equitable distribution of wealth, but little is known about how children think about social stratification. This study examined children's understanding of social stratification and their evaluations of whether the stratification was fair. Participants were 5- to 8-year-old children (n = 86, Mage = 6.81, SD = .93) who were from primarily upper-middle class, racially and ethnically diverse families and attending a university-affiliated, community-based laboratory school in Southern California. Four pictorial representations of the number of rich, poor, and middle class people in a neighborhood were used to measure children's perceptions of social stratification in their neighborhood. Whereas participants selected a range of the pictorial representations, more than half (57%) favored a majority middle class stratification and justified their choice based on concrete markers of status and their personal experiences. In addition, participants (60%) showed evidence of equity-based reasoning when evaluating the fairness of the stratification and deemed the extreme ends of the economic spectrum (i.e., majority rich) as not fair. Our findings show preliminary evidence of children's perceptions of social stratification, thus, refuting the common misconception that children are economically blind. Implications regarding the importance of parent and teacher socialization about social class are discussed. What is the significance of this article for the general public? Results from the current study suggest that when presented with a developmentally appropriate task, children (ages 5-8) are able to differentiate and evaluate the fairness of social stratification, while drawing on tangible markers of social class and equity-based reasoning to inform their decisions. In a society marked by extreme economic inequality, our results signify the importance of early conversations about social class.