Subjective Positioning and Socioeconomic Status in Latin America (2006-2020): A Multilevel Analysis Approach

Abstract

Sociology has classically addressed the perception of individuals’ position in social stratification. Several studies agree that this perception is conditioned by both objective social positions and contextual characteristics of their societies (wealth, inequality, poverty). In this article, we use multilevel analysis to explore the relationship between individual and aggregate drivers of this phenomenon in 17 Latin American countries from 2006 to 2020. The results indicate that, on the one hand, as in other societies, there is a propensity towards intermediate positions on the social scale, maintaining a considerable importance of the effect of objective social status on subjective status at the individual level. Likewise, at an aggregate, the levels of economic well-being and wealth presented by different countries act as contextual conditioning factors of the way people position themselves on the social scale.

subjective status; objective status; social stratification; social inequality; Latin America