Do Wives Matter? Class Identities of Wives and Husbands in the United States, 1974–1994

Through analyses of data for the United States from 1974 to 1994, we examine the subjective class identities of married women and men and how these have changed over time. Over the last two decades, husbands and especially wives have increasingly factored in wives' characteristics in assessing their class position. Husbands attach more importance to their own than to their wives' characteristics, but consider some of their wives' characteristics in assigning themselves to a class. Wives weigh their own and their husbands' characteristics nearly equally. Our findings challenge the conclusion of neo-Marxist researchers that information on husbands is sufficient to place wives and husbands into classes. Both “class” (e.g, ownership and authority) and “status” variables (e.g., income, occupational prestige, and education) need to be considered in understanding how Americans fix their class position.