Social class discrimination involves unfair treatment or prejudice based on socioeconomic status. Implicit class bias refers to unconscious attitudes or stereotypes about different social classes.
Both can significantly harm children by shaping their self-esteem, influencing their opportunities, and reinforcing inequality, ultimately impacting their educational outcomes and mental health.
Tenenbaum, H. R., McNamara, A., Dean, P., & Ruck, M. D. Children's perceptions of social class discrimination: The role of age and situational factors in evaluating fairness. British Journal of Developmental Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjdp.12556
Key Points
- Children perceive differential treatment based on social class as more unfair when directed at working-class peers compared to upper-class peers.
- Older children are significantly more likely than younger children to explicitly identify class-based differential treatment as discrimination.
- Children’s implicit class biases and parental education levels did not significantly influence their judgments about the fairness of differential treatment.
- Differential treatment by teachers was more readily identified as unfair and discriminatory compared to similar treatment enacted by parents.
- Younger children were more likely to attribute differential outcomes to personal factors such as ability and effort rather than discrimination.
- The recognition of class discrimination varied depending on whether the disadvantaged child belonged to a lower or upper-class group.
Rationale
Previous research demonstrates children’s growing ability to recognize discrimination based on visible social categories such as gender and ethnicity.
Despite well-documented implications of social class biases in educational outcomes and mental health, little was previously known about how children perceive class discrimination specifically.
Studies indicate that awareness of social inequalities develops gradually, with children’s initial understanding often limited and influenced by meritocratic ideologies.
Understanding at what age and under what conditions children become aware of social class discrimination can inform the development of targeted educational interventions to challenge prejudiced attitudes.
Method
The research employed a mixed-method experimental approach, involving scenario-based vignettes designed to assess children’s fairness judgments and reasoning processes, alongside a computerized implicit bias test (BIAT).
Procedure
- Obtained ethical approval and parental consent.
- Individually interviewed children in their school environment.
- Read aloud vignettes depicting differential treatment based on social class by a teacher and a parent.
- Participants rated fairness of the treatment and likelihood of various explanations (effort, ability, unfairness, discrimination).
- Administered Brief Implicit Association Test (BIAT) to measure implicit class bias through reaction-time categorization tasks.
Sample
Participants included 122 British children aged 6 to 11 years (Mean age: 9 years; range: 6 years 6 months to 11 years 11 months).
The sample was ethnically diverse (56.6% White, 21.3% Asian, 15.6% Black African/Caribbean, 6.6% mixed ethnicity) and represented varying socioeconomic backgrounds from southern England.
Measures
- Vignettes: Children responded to scenarios involving differential treatment of peers based on class (upper vs. lower class), rating fairness and the likelihood of explanations such as merit, effort, unfair advantage, and discrimination.
- Brief Implicit Association Test (BIAT): A computerized reaction-time task designed to measure children’s implicit associations between class-related stimuli and evaluative concepts (good/bad).
Statistical measures
- Used binomial logistic regression to predict fairness ratings.
- Conducted mixed-design ANOVAs to analyze children’s reasoning processes and interaction effects related to age, social class, and parental education.
Results
- Children consistently viewed treatment disadvantaging working-class peers as more unfair.
- Older children explicitly attributed differential treatment by teachers primarily to class discrimination, whereas younger children attributed it equally to personal attributes (ability, effort).
- Differential treatment by teachers was more frequently identified as discriminatory when the disadvantaged child was from a working-class background.
- Parental education and children’s implicit biases had minimal influence on fairness judgments, indicating that awareness of class-based discrimination is influenced more by situational and developmental factors than implicit attitudes or family socioeconomic status.
- Children viewed differential treatment by teachers as more clearly unfair and discriminatory compared to similar parental actions.
Insight
This study significantly expands existing literature by illustrating that children as young as 6 can recognize unfair treatment based on social class, particularly in educational contexts.
It highlights developmental differences, with older children better able to identify systemic bias. This understanding is vital for interventions aimed at addressing inequalities early in children’s educational journeys.
Future research could explore practical educational tools or curricula to enhance children’s critical understanding of class discrimination.
Implications
The research underscores the importance of integrating class-awareness education into school curricula to help children critically analyze and challenge class-based discrimination from an early age.
Policymakers and educators should consider tailored programs that account for developmental stages to effectively confront internalized meritocratic ideologies and reduce the risk of educational inequalities.
Strengths
This study had several methodological strengths, including:
- Comprehensive and clear operationalization of social class through vignettes and implicit tests.
- Ethnically diverse and socioeconomically representative sample enhances generalizability.
- Robust statistical methodologies provide clear evidence for developmental and situational impacts.
Limitations
This study also had several limitations, including:
- Simplistic dichotomous socioeconomic status measure may not fully capture nuanced class dynamics.
- Potential bias introduced by the negative connotation of “lower class” terminology used in scenarios.
- Use of hypothetical rather than real-life scenarios may limit ecological validity.
Socratic Questions
- How might children’s perceptions of class-based discrimination differ in real-world situations compared to hypothetical vignettes?
- What alternative measures could more accurately capture children’s socioeconomic backgrounds and experiences?
- Could classroom interventions designed to reduce class bias inadvertently reinforce certain stereotypes?
- What other contexts (e.g., peer relationships, media representation) might influence children’s developing understandings of class discrimination?
- How might children’s reasoning about class discrimination differ across cultures or national contexts?
