Socioeconomic Status and the Relationship Between Under-Reward and Distress: Buffering-Resource or Status-Disconfirmation?

A central feature of the sociological study of justice is its emphasis on how individuals’ positions in the social structure intersect with justice processes. This study examines how individuals’ socioeconomic status—as assessed by education and income—moderates any observed associations between perceived under-reward and three forms of distress: anger, depression, and physical symptoms. Using data from a national sample of American workers from diverse occupations, sectors, and social statuses, I test two competing hypotheses that articulate those contingencies: buffering-resource and status-disconfirmation. Results indicate distinct patterns for education and income that are mostly consistent across different forms of distress. The moderation patterns for income are more in line with the buffering-resource hypothesis, such that the relationships between perceived under-reward and all three forms of distress are weaker among those with higher income. The moderation patterns for education, however, suggest evidence that supports both dynamics: higher education buffers the effect of slight under-reward on the three distress outcomes, but does not buffer the effect of severe under-reward. I integrate theories from the sociology of stress and distributive justice in an effort to better understand how the stress of under-reward and social statuses intersect to shape distress. These discoveries speak to broader concerns about status-based contingencies embedded in the social psychology of inequality and its distribution in the population.