LISS panel Grant 2023. Authors: Jaap Nieuwenhuis (Rijksuniversiteit Groningen – Faculteit Gedrags- en Maatschappijwetenschappen); Agata Troost (University of Groningen, Faculty of Spatial Sciences); Jonathan Mijs (Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam – Erasmus School of Social and Behavioural Sciences).
With this project we aim to enrich and innovate research in social stratification by collecting fine-grained data to operationalize an exploitation-based class scheme, currently underused in the social sciences. Current understanding of social inequality is based on indicators such as income and education, used as proxies for a person’s social position and experiences. We argue that to really understand social inequality and stratification, we need better data on class dynamics between different socioeconomic positions in society and of people’s understanding of their own position within the social hierarchy. Expanding the toolkit for understanding social stratification will enable researchers and policy makers to better analyse other problems related to inequality and polarization, such as voting behaviour and belief in meritocracy.