Individuals are quite flexible in how they mentally represent social situations. One construction dimension pertains to whether subjective representations are either more abstract and generalising or more specific, reflecting the here and now of the current situation. Prior research has consistently demonstrated that individuals form more specific representations when they face problematic situations. Research further suggests that individuals with low socio-economic status are confronted with many problematic challenges (financial scarcity, access to education, health conditions, etc). The project investigates the combination of these—so far independent—lines of research and suggests that the social constructions of lower-class individuals’ are more specific and more related to the here and now than those of higher-class individuals.
In cooperation with: Lucia Boileau (Mannheim).
