Most research investigating inequality as a moderator of the effect of income on wellbeing focuses on inequality within geographic contexts. This study asks whether the association of income with subjective wellbeing varies with level of inequality within groups defined by the intersection of dichotomized race (white versus non-white) and gender. Two dimensions of subjective wellbeing are investigated—life (dis)satisfaction, and disappointment in one’s life achievements. Results of partial proportional odds and logistic regression analyses of data from the study of Midlife Development in the United States (MIDUS) indicate that the association of individual earnings with life (dis)satisfaction varies by level of inequality within intersectional groups. No evidence for moderation is observed in the analysis of disappointment. Within-group inequality varies much more by gender than race, and the results can be interpreted as indicating a gender difference in the effect of income on life satisfaction. The results are also consistent with the income rank hypothesis, which proposes that income effects will be larger among those in lower inequality groups than those in higher inequality groups. Although the statistical power to evaluate race differences is limited by the size and composition of the MIDUS sample, additional analyses suggest that the income-rank pattern might extend to race differences in (dis)satisfaction. The results can be broadly interpreted as suggesting that intersectional inequality does not influence the aspirations that provide the comparative standard for disappointment, but it does shape the way that the contemporaneous earnings differences relevant to life (dis)satisfaction are framed in social comparisons.

大多数调查不平等作为收入对福祉影响的调节因素的研究都集中在地理环境中的不平等。本研究询问收入与主观幸福感的关联是否随着由二分种族（白人与非白人）和性别的交叉定义的群体内的不平等程度而变化。研究了主观幸福感的两个维度——生活（不）满意和对个人生活成就的失望。美国中年发展研究 (MIDUS) 数据的部分比例优势和逻辑回归分析结果表明，个人收入与生活（不）满意度的关联因交叉群体内的不平等程度而异。在失望的分析中没有观察到温和的证据。组内不平等因性别而不是种族而变化更大，结果可以解释为表明收入对生活满意度的影响存在性别差异。结果也与收入等级假设一致，该假设提出收入效应在较低不平等群体中的影响将大于收入在较高不平等群体中的影响。尽管评估种族差异的统计能力受到 MIDUS 样本的大小和组成的限制，但额外的分析表明，收入排名模式可能会扩展到（不）满意度的种族差异。结果可以广义地解释为表明交叉不平等不会影响提供失望比较标准的愿望，