Development of the Classism Attitudinal Profile (CAP)

Abstract

Despite increasing interest in social class issues within psychology, there are a limited number of theoretically rooted instruments to measure subjective social class, particularly related to classism. The purpose of this project was to create a brief, psychometrically sound, and theoretically grounded instrument, called the Classism Attitudinal Profile (CAP), designed to measure 2 aspects of classism (downward and upward) defined in Liu's (2011) Social Class World View Model Revised (SCWM-R). Data from 2 independent samples (n = 608, n = 199) provided evidence in support of the consistency (alpha and test-retest coefficients), anticipated factor structure, and convergent/discriminant validity of CAP subscale scores. Downward and upward classism scores were only modestly correlated with each other and differentially correlated with other measures, thereby demonstrating that CAP subscales measure distinct constructs rather than opposite ends of the same continuum. Validity of CAP scores was further supported by logically consistent patterns of relationships with measures of subjective social status, materialistic values, Protestant work ethic, life satisfaction, racism, sexism, and key demographic variables.