Research published in the Journal of Personality & Social Psychology finds that Americans in lower social class contexts perceive their contributions to society as less significant than those in higher social class contexts.
Ellen C. Reinhart and colleagues examined the factors underlying this perception. Previous studies have shown that prosocial behaviors, like helping others, are crucial to individuals’ sense of societal contribution. However, they noted that lower social class individuals are more likely to engage in “bonding help,” such as caring for family, which is perceived as less of a societal contribution than “bridging help,” like volunteering for strangers.
This research employed a series of five studies to explore how social class disparities shape perceptions of societal contribution through different types of helping behaviors.
Study 1 utilized survey-based research, with Study 1A (N = 1,250) assessing self-perceived societal contributions and Study 1B (N = 1,052) extending the investigation to meta-perceived contributions, which capture how individuals believe others perceive their societal contributions. Participants were stratified by social class contexts, defined using educational attainment (e.g., high school degree or less vs. college degree or more). In addition to completing measures like the Social Contribution Subscale, open-ended prompts encouraged participants to describe their recent actions that they considered contributions to society.
Study 2 employed an experimental design with 282 participants to compare perceptions of t bridging and bonding help. Participants read vignettes in which individuals engaged in these forms of helping, and they rated the perceived societal value, morality, and volitional choice of each action. Study 3 expanded this by manipulating the element of choice in helping behaviors to test whether freedom to choose influences perceptions of societal value. Study 4 focused on the helpers themselves, examining whether people who engage in bridging versus bonding help perceive their own actions differently in terms of societal contribution.
Study 5 leveraged data from the Midlife Development in the United States (MIDUS) study, a nationally representative, longitudinal dataset collected across three waves: Wave 1 (1995-1996), Wave 2 (2004-2006), and Wave 3 (2013-2014). This dataset provided a long-term perspective on how helping behaviors and perceptions of societal contribution vary across social classes.
The findings of Study 1 revealed a persistent social class disparity in perceived societal contributions. Participants from lower social class contexts reported lower self-perceived societal contributions (Study 1A) and meta-perceived contributions (Study 1B) compared to those from higher social class contexts. Open-ended responses demonstrated that individuals from lower social class contexts were more likely to report that none of their actions counted as contributions, and they listed fewer overall actions compared to their higher-class counterparts. This discrepancy was not attributed to a lack of helpful behaviors but rather to a difference in how those behaviors were perceived and valued.
In Study 2, bridging help (e.g., helping distant others) was rated as a greater societal contribution compared to bonding help (e.g., helping close others) by participants across social classes. Bridging help was viewed as more freely chosen and morally significant, while bonding help was often seen as obligatory. Study 3 found that helping behaviors perceived as freely chosen were considered more valuable contributions to society. Study 4 further revealed that helpers themselves mirrored these biases: individuals engaging in bridging help rated their actions as more meaningful than those engaged in bonding help, underscoring the cultural preference for helping strangers over close others.
Study 5 revealed that individuals in lower social class contexts were more likely to engage in bonding help, such as caregiving for family members, while those in higher social class contexts were more likely to participate in bridging help, such as formal volunteering. Bridging help was found to have a stronger association with feelings of societal contribution than bonding help. Over the three waves of MIDUS data collection, these patterns remained consistent.
Together, these findings highlight how societal norms and perceptions of contribution reinforce social class disparities in perceived value and belonging.
One limitation is the focus on U.S. cultural contexts, where individualism and the emphasis on choice may shape perceptions of societal value. The findings may not generalize to cultures where familial obligations hold greater moral significance.
The research, “Who Feels They Contribute to U.S. Society? Helping Behaviors and Social Class Disparities in Perceived Contributions,” was authored by Ellen C. Reinhart, Rebecca M. Carey, and Hazel Rose Markus.
