Abstract:

Social class represents the amount of social resources one possesses and the social status one perceives. Its unique concept, widespread functions, profound influences on individuals and systematic conclusions as a whole contribute to its cutting-edge status in the discipline of psychology. There are mainly five different approaches in social class psychology, including labor, health psychology, socioculture, social cognitive and rank-based studies. However few studies were conducted on the relationship between social class and social fairness from these approaches. The present study focuses on social cognitive perspective, exploring difference of perceived social fairness between different social classes, influence of social fairness on different social classes and the strategies of individuals from lower class to deal with social unfairness. To advance the development of psychology of social class, future studies can focus on concept identification, theory integration and application.

Key words: social class, social class psychology, social fairness, social cognitive