Effects of Subjective Socioeconomic Status on Relative Deprivation and Subjective Well-being among College Students: Testing the ‘Silver-Spoon-Discourse’ based Belongingness in Korean Society

Abstract

서론 최근 우리 사회에서는 세계적 양극화 추세를 반영하듯, 개인의 사회경제적 계층을 '금수저-흙수 저'로 표현하는 소위 '수저담론'이 청년층을 중심으로 회자되고 있다. 이 담론은 본디 '은수저를 물고 태어나다(born with a silver spoon in one's mouth)'라는 영어식 표현을 모방한 것으로 추정되며, 개인이 자신의 사회계층을 '금수저'또는 '흙수저' 등에 비유하여 표현함으로써 사회적 계층과 관련한 심리적 우월감이나 박탈감이 내포되어 있다(Boserup et al., 2018; Kim et al., 2017). 이러한 수저 담론이 특히 청년층에서 확산된 배경에는 지속적으로 악화되는 청년실업을 비롯하여 비정규직 고용 Abstract The 'Sliver-Spoon-Discourse' is currently witnessing growing complaints about the polarization and a sense of despair among many young people in Korean society. The 'Sliver-Spoon-Discourse' that compares one's subjective socioeconomic status to a spoon implies a sense of psychological superiority or deprivation. The present study empirically tested the current popular 'Sliver-Spoon-Discourse' based belongingness and explored how subjective socioeconomic status may affect the psychology of young people. This study examined the effects of subjective socioeconomic status on individual relative deprivation and subjective well-being. Data were collected from 307 undergraduate students enrolled at universities located in Seoul with both parents alive. The findings of this study were as follows. First, student respondents reported moderate levels of subjective socioeconomic status, relative deprivation, and subjective well-being. Second, after controlling for respondents' gender, age and family income, the students' subjective socioeconomic status was negatively associated with their level of relative deprivation. Finally, after controlling for respondents' sociodemographic characteristics, the students' subjective socioeconomic status was not significantly related to all the three sub-factors of life satisfaction, positive emotion and negative emotion as well as total subjective well-being. The results indicate that 'Sliver-Spoon-Discourse' based belongingness may instigate relative deprivation of young people without affecting their subjective well-being. The implications of the results are discussed for youth programs and policies.