Previous studies clarified that many individuals tend to attribute themselves into the middle-class, explaining this tendency by referring to group reference theory. This article aims to explore the formation of subjective social status from a different point of view. To do so, the author analyzed the data from the Stratification and Social Psychology Interview Survey in 2010 (SSP-I 2010) and the Stratification and Social Psychology Survey in 2015 (SSP 2015), which were conducted in Japan. The results of the analyses reveal that the population can be categorized into two latent groups: one demonstrates a middle-class tendency in distributions of subjective social status, and the other demonstrates a clear class consciousness. The former group was composed of wealthy individuals, and the latter group was composed of not-wealthy individuals. Furthermore, the results also clarified that the composition rates of the two latent groups had been stable from 2010 (a period of economic stagnation) to 2015 (a period of economic boom), irrespective of socio-economic changes. Finally, the author discusses the implications of these findings.

先前的研究阐明，许多人倾向于将自己归于中产阶级，并通过参考群体参考理论来解释这种倾向。本文旨在从不同的角度探讨主观社会地位的形成。为此，作者分析了2010 年分层与社会心理学访谈调查(SSP-I 2010) 和2015 年分层与社会心理学调查的数据（SSP 2015），这是在日本进行的。分析结果表明，人口可以分为两个潜在群体：一个在主观社会地位分布上表现出中产阶级倾向，另一个表现出明显的阶级意识。前者由富人组成，后者由非富人组成。此外，研究结果还阐明，无论社会经济变化如何，从 2010 年（经济停滞期）到 2015 年（经济繁荣期），这两个潜在群体的构成率一直保持稳定。最后，作者讨论了这些发现的含义。