Abstract:

Social class signs are a component of person perception about social class of others. People can determine another’s social class by processing these subtle social class signs, and another’s social class has a profound and extensive impact on interpersonal social interaction. This article used personal attire, facial features, and speaking characteristics as examples to illustrate that social class signs affect individual’s judgment of another’s social class. Moreover, we summarized the distinguishing influences of social class signs on interpersonal social interactions based on the perspectives of social exchange, social fairness, and social identity. It would be desirable to study if the functions of some social class signs are weakened because of the problem of conspicuous consumption. Regarding the relatively high relevance between social class signs and social class, it is necessary to explore the relation and distinction between these two constructs in future research. Given that few studies have examined the impacts of social class signs of a third party on interpersonal social interactions, it is important to expand the research from the interpersonal perspective to the third-party perspective.

Key words: social class signs, interpersonal social interactions, social exchange, social fairness, social identity