Sources of Social Inequality¶
Summary
The scale measures respondents’ attributions of upward mobility and success in society to the use of legitimate or illegitimate means, whereby the categories of “legitimate” and “illegitimate” are evaluated from the perspective of the prevailing universalistic ideology of meritocratic achievement. The scale has been used in the SOEP youth questionnaire since 2001.
Theoretical Background
The scale measures a non-normative aspect: namely, beliefs about the extent to which success can be achieved by specific means. Theoretically, the scale is implicitly oriented toward measuring respondents’ perceptions of legitimacy or their critique of the social status assignment process. The legitimization of existing social inequality is necessary for the functioning of a society, independent of the form that this legitimation takes. In German society, as in most Western societies, social inequalities are legitimized meritocratically, that is, inequalities are considered justified if they are based on non-ascriptive characteristics such as individual abilities and achievements, as expressed, for example, in educational degrees. To this end, it must be determined, first, whether the individual supports the normative basis for this meritocratic ideology, and second, to what extent the respondent views these normative standards as being realized in the society. The second, cognitive aspect is measured with the items described below. Both aspects together allow for an estimation of whether the inequality that exists in a society is perceived as legitimate or as worthy of criticism.
Scale Development
For the SOEP surveys, 11 items from the original scale by Sandberger (1983) were selected. Item 11 (having the right gender) was added later.
References
Sandberger, J.-U. (1983). Zwischen Legitimation und Kritik. Vorstellungen von Akademikern, Studenten und Bevölkerung zur sozialen Ungleichheit. Zeitschrift für Soziologie, 12, 181-202.
Items
In your opinion, what are the most important factors for achieving success and improving one’s social situation in Germany (Wovon hängt es Ihrer Meinung nach in Deutschland tatsächlich ab, ob jemand Erfolg hat und sozial aufsteigt):
Legitimate instruments (Legitime Mittel)
Working hard (Man muss sich anstrengen und fleißig sein)
Being gifted and intelligent (Man muss begabt und intelligent sein)
Having good training in a specialized field (Man muss gute Fachkenntnisse auf seinem Spezialgebiet haben)
Having good grades at school (Man muss einen möglichst guten Schulabschluss haben)
Being dynamic and exhibiting initiative (Man muss dynamisch sein und Initiative haben)
Scale: 1 (I agree completely/Stimme voll zu) to 4 (I don’t agree at all/Stimme überhaupt nicht zu)
Illegitimate instruments (Illegitime Mittel)
Exploiting others (Man muss andere ausnutzen)
Being from the right family (Man muss aus der richtigen Familie stammen)
Having a lot of money and assets (Man muss Geld und Vermögen haben)
Being tough and ruthless (Man muss rücksichtslos und hart sein)
Having connections to the right people (Man muss Beziehungen zu den richtigen Leuten haben)
Being politically active in the right party (Man muss sich auf der richtigen Seite politische engagieren)
Having the right gender; men have better career opportunities (Man muss das richtige Geschlecht haben; Männer haben bessere Aufstiegschancen)
Scale: 1 (I agree completely / Stimme voll zu) to 4 (I don’t agree at all / Stimme überhaupt nicht zu)
Items and Scale Statistics
year |
variable |
count |
mean |
sd |
itemrestcorr |
alpha |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2001-2020 |
jl0337 |
8965 |
1.44 |
0.58 |
0.31 |
0.62 |
2001-2020 |
jl0339 |
8940 |
1.97 |
0.71 |
0.40 |
0.62 |
2001-2020 |
jl0341 |
8936 |
1.64 |
0.65 |
0.40 |
0.62 |
2001-2020 |
jl0343 |
8963 |
1.60 |
0.70 |
0.39 |
0.62 |
2001-2020 |
jl0348 |
8901 |
1.71 |
0.64 |
0.37 |
0.62 |
2001-2020 |
jl0338 |
8928 |
3.27 |
0.81 |
0.53 |
0.78 |
2001-2020 |
jl0340 |
8914 |
2.69 |
0.92 |
0.55 |
0.78 |
2001-2020 |
jl0342 |
8937 |
2.81 |
0.85 |
0.58 |
0.78 |
2001-2020 |
jl0344 |
8932 |
3.08 |
0.85 |
0.56 |
0.78 |
2001-2020 |
jl0345 |
8932 |
2.05 |
0.79 |
0.53 |
0.78 |
2001-2020 |
jl0346 |
8773 |
2.93 |
0.79 |
0.39 |
0.78 |
2001-2020 |
jl0347 |
8894 |
3.01 |
0.89 |
0.41 |
0.78 |