Opportunity beliefs and class differences in subjective status injustice during the Great Recession in Iceland
Sociologists theorize that opportunity beliefs shape whether individuals see their status in society as just or unjust – a topic that is broadly relevant to research linking social structure to emotions and behaviors. Two prominent theories, however, entail competing propositions. The dominant ideol...
Published in: | Acta Sociologica |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , |
Other Authors: | |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
SAGE Publications
2017
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0001699317718253 http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0001699317718253 http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full-xml/10.1177/0001699317718253 |
id |
crsagepubl:10.1177/0001699317718253 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
crsagepubl:10.1177/0001699317718253 2024-06-16T07:40:54+00:00 Opportunity beliefs and class differences in subjective status injustice during the Great Recession in Iceland Oddsson, Guðmundur Bernburg, Jón Gunnar Icelandic Centre for Research 2017 http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0001699317718253 http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0001699317718253 http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full-xml/10.1177/0001699317718253 en eng SAGE Publications http://journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/text-and-data-mining-license Acta Sociologica volume 61, issue 3, page 283-299 ISSN 0001-6993 1502-3869 journal-article 2017 crsagepubl https://doi.org/10.1177/0001699317718253 2024-05-19T13:06:10Z Sociologists theorize that opportunity beliefs shape whether individuals see their status in society as just or unjust – a topic that is broadly relevant to research linking social structure to emotions and behaviors. Two prominent theories, however, entail competing propositions. The dominant ideology thesis suggests that believing in opportunity barriers increases subjective status injustice, especially for lower class individuals. In contrast, relative deprivation theory implies that believing in restricted opportunities deters upward comparison among the lower classes, potentially reducing class differences in subjective status injustice. Relationships between class position, opportunity beliefs, and subjective status injustice were studied using survey data gathered during the Great Recession in Iceland. The findings indicate that beliefs in opportunity barriers are widespread, yet few see their social status as unjust. Moreover, only opportunity barriers stemming from political ties and gender increase subjective status injustice, especially so in the case of political ties among lower class individuals. It is likely that this latter sentiment was made particularly significant during the recession by an intense moral discourse condemning nepotism and cronyism. Because these two opportunity constraints are widely condemned in Iceland, we suggest that only opportunity barriers defined as social problems in a given society are salient enough to influence status justice evaluations. Article in Journal/Newspaper Iceland SAGE Publications Acta Sociologica 61 3 283 299 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
SAGE Publications |
op_collection_id |
crsagepubl |
language |
English |
description |
Sociologists theorize that opportunity beliefs shape whether individuals see their status in society as just or unjust – a topic that is broadly relevant to research linking social structure to emotions and behaviors. Two prominent theories, however, entail competing propositions. The dominant ideology thesis suggests that believing in opportunity barriers increases subjective status injustice, especially for lower class individuals. In contrast, relative deprivation theory implies that believing in restricted opportunities deters upward comparison among the lower classes, potentially reducing class differences in subjective status injustice. Relationships between class position, opportunity beliefs, and subjective status injustice were studied using survey data gathered during the Great Recession in Iceland. The findings indicate that beliefs in opportunity barriers are widespread, yet few see their social status as unjust. Moreover, only opportunity barriers stemming from political ties and gender increase subjective status injustice, especially so in the case of political ties among lower class individuals. It is likely that this latter sentiment was made particularly significant during the recession by an intense moral discourse condemning nepotism and cronyism. Because these two opportunity constraints are widely condemned in Iceland, we suggest that only opportunity barriers defined as social problems in a given society are salient enough to influence status justice evaluations. |
author2 |
Icelandic Centre for Research |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Oddsson, Guðmundur Bernburg, Jón Gunnar |
spellingShingle |
Oddsson, Guðmundur Bernburg, Jón Gunnar Opportunity beliefs and class differences in subjective status injustice during the Great Recession in Iceland |
author_facet |
Oddsson, Guðmundur Bernburg, Jón Gunnar |
author_sort |
Oddsson, Guðmundur |
title |
Opportunity beliefs and class differences in subjective status injustice during the Great Recession in Iceland |
title_short |
Opportunity beliefs and class differences in subjective status injustice during the Great Recession in Iceland |
title_full |
Opportunity beliefs and class differences in subjective status injustice during the Great Recession in Iceland |
title_fullStr |
Opportunity beliefs and class differences in subjective status injustice during the Great Recession in Iceland |
title_full_unstemmed |
Opportunity beliefs and class differences in subjective status injustice during the Great Recession in Iceland |
title_sort |
opportunity beliefs and class differences in subjective status injustice during the great recession in iceland |
publisher |
SAGE Publications |
publishDate |
2017 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0001699317718253 http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0001699317718253 http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full-xml/10.1177/0001699317718253 |
genre |
Iceland |
genre_facet |
Iceland |
op_source |
Acta Sociologica volume 61, issue 3, page 283-299 ISSN 0001-6993 1502-3869 |
op_rights |
http://journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/text-and-data-mining-license |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1177/0001699317718253 |
container_title |
Acta Sociologica |
container_volume |
61 |
container_issue |
3 |
container_start_page |
283 |
op_container_end_page |
299 |
_version_ |
1802007929648316416 |