Interplay of class and gender may influence social judgments differently between cultures

(Press-News.org) Certain markers of high status may more strongly boost attitudes towards women versus men, and low status markers may more strongly worsen attitudes towards men versus women—with both findings more pronounced in countries with more conservative gender norms. Marie Isabelle Weißflog of Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Germany, and the University of York, U.K., and colleagues present these findings in the open-access journal PLOS One on February 18, 2026.

Within society, some people receive unequal rights, opportunities, and access to resources. Social psychologists have researched how such social injustice is linked with either gender, race/ethnicity, or socioeconomic status/class, as separate factors. Many studies have also examined how race and gender interact to shape social realities—for instance, judgments of female leaders of different races. However, far less research has examined how gender and status/class intersect to influence how people judge and treat others. For example, women in high-status leadership roles might be judged as less legitimate than men in the same roles.

To help address this gap, Weißflog and colleagues analyzed responses from surveys in which participants read descriptions of hypothetical men and women of different educational, income, and occupational status, and reported how much they would like, respect, or wish to engage with them. The analysis included 2,714 participants from Armenia, Australia, Brazil, Germany, India, Russia, the U.K., and the U.S.

In general, participants had more positive attitudes towards people with higher education, income, and occupation level. However, attitudes towards women were more strongly positively influenced by higher income and education than attitudes towards men. Meanwhile, low income and occupational status influenced attitudes towards men more negatively than attitudes towards women.

Both differences were more pronounced in countries with more conservative gender norms. In countries with higher overall inequality, such as Brazil and India, status and gender had a weaker influence on attitudes towards others – perhaps because here, respondents felt that low status would be more attributable to context than to any individual characteristics or efforts.

This study underscores the importance of intersectionality—in this case, between gender and class—when examining social injustice. While more research is needed to further deepen understanding, the findings could help inform discussions and policies addressing social injustice.

The authors add: “If we want to tackle the growing inequalities we are witnessing in many countries, it is important to understand how socioeconomic status and class inequalities emerge and impact how people and social groups perceive and act towards one another. Our findings show that looking at status/class in isolation is only part of the picture, however - its impact can differ depending on the social and cultural context, and is intertwined with people's other social positions like race/ethnicity, gender, and more.

In countries with more conservative gender norms, there is more of a gender difference in how women and men are perceived based on their status, and men are judged more harshly if they do not live up to the "breadwinner" role. That really highlights how strict gender norms can not only negatively impact women and gender minorities, but also be a double-edged sword for men - they may benefit from them when they fit into the role expectations, but also be penalized when they do not.”

 

 

In your coverage, please use this URL to provide access to the freely available article in PLOS One: https://plos.io/4qZX72m

Citation: Weißflog MI, Grigoryan L, Hofmann W (2026) Social judgments at the intersection of class and gender across cultures. PLoS One 21(2): e0338029. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0338029

Author countries: U.K., Germany

Funding: The study was supported by the German Research Foundation (DFG) under grant agreement No. 464524346, awarded to Lusine Grigoryan. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

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