As well as asking about demographics such as age, gender, ethnicity, and sexuality, the Privilege and Participation survey also asked about the occupational class of people’s parents. Specifically, and quite unusually, it asked them to think back to when they were fourteen and write in the jobs that their mother and father did at thatContinue reading “Survey Variable: Parental Occupational Class”
Author Archives: joegreenwoodhau
Survey Variable: Sexuality
A large majority of the respondents to the Privilege and Participation survey are heterosexual. As Figure 1 (above, using weighted data), more than nine in ten of them (93.6%) identify as such, whilst one in twenty-six (3.8%) identify as gay or lesbian, one in fifty-six (1.8%) as bisexual, and one in one hundred and forty-threeContinue reading “Survey Variable: Sexuality”
Survey Variable: Ethnicity
The respondents to the survey are not especially representative of the population of Great Britain in terms of their ethnicity, except in the sense that a large majority of them are White British. As Figure 1 (above, using weighted data) shows, nine in ten of them (90.5%) consider themselves to be in that category, andContinue reading “Survey Variable: Ethnicity”
Survey Variable: Perceived Privilege of Those in Politics
In addition to asking about the things, if any, that differentiate people who get involved in politics from the public, and the percentage of politicians who were privately educated, the Privilege and Participation survey was more explicit about privilege in politics. It asked about the privilege of two groups, politicians and people who get involvedContinue reading “Survey Variable: Perceived Privilege of Those in Politics”
Survey Variable: Self-Perceived Status
In addition to their explanations for status in society and their own status, and the indicators of status that they use, a crucial part of people’s perception of privilege is their sense of their own status. When assessing our status, we might compare ourselves to a range of different reference points, from a billionaire propertyContinue reading “Survey Variable: Self-Perceived Status”
Survey Variable: Ranked Indicators of Difference in Politics
As with indicators of status more generally, respondents to the Privilege and Participation survey were asked not only to select but also to rank the indicators that they think distinguish people involved in politics from them. The results of their rankings can be seen in Figure 1 (above, using weighted data), which shows that thereContinue reading “Survey Variable: Ranked Indicators of Difference in Politics”
Survey Variable: Selected Indicators of Difference in Politics
It is commonly observed that the people who are involved in politics, and especially politicians, are somehow different from the general population. This feeds into narratives of a gap between people and those they elect, and the idea that representatives are out of touch with the public. However, surveys rarely, if ever, ask people aboutContinue reading “Survey Variable: Selected Indicators of Difference in Politics”
Survey Variable: Ranked Indicators of Status
Being asked to select all of the indicators of status that they think matter allows people to cast the net wide and indicate everything that they think acts as any sort of indicator of status. By contrast, being asked to rank those indicators requires people to be more discriminating and indicate what they think areContinue reading “Survey Variable: Ranked Indicators of Status”
Survey Variable: Selected Indicators of Status
How do people tell what other people’s statuses are? What indicators do they use to form their impressions of where someone sits in social hierarchies? The Privilege and Participation survey asked about this topic for the first time, with all respondents being shown a list of indicators of status to choose from. These ranged fromContinue reading “Survey Variable: Selected Indicators of Status”
Survey Variable: Impact of Background on Own Status
Having looked at people’s identification of the factors that influence status difference in society and their own statuses, it is important to also consider the nature of the impact that it has. Two people who both say that background is a very important factor in shaping status might have very different experiences in mind. OneContinue reading “Survey Variable: Impact of Background on Own Status”
Privilege and Participation 