Lay representations of social class: A mixed methods approach to wealth-based group perceptions and stereotypes del Fresno Díaz, Ángel García Sánchez, Efraín Padial Rojas, Elena Willis Sánchez, Guillermo Byrd Lemus Martín, Soledad De People's perceptions of social classes may differ fromscholars' definitions. We used a mixed method, sensitive tocontext, to examine lay perceptions of social classes in Spain.In Study 1 (N = 90), we conducted qualitative interviews toexamine how people spontaneously characterize wealth-based groups. Participants identified between two andseven groups. We grouped these into five main analyticalcategories for analytical purposes: poor, lower andworking classes, middle classes, upper classes and rich andbeyond. These groups were described based on materialcharacteristics, traits and culture. Positive traits were mainlyassociated with non-wealthy groups, especially the lowerand working classes, while negative traits were associatedwith wealthy groups. In Studies 2 (N = 251) and 3 (N = 190),we extended these findings quantitatively, showing thatpositive stereotypes were associated with non-wealthygroups, whereas negative stereotypes were associated withwealthy groups. Using psychometric networks, non-wealthygroups were ascribed more positive traits—with someambivalences—while wealthy groups were mainly describedusing negative traits. We confirmed this pattern of resultsthrough meta-analyses. These findings highlight theimportance of lay perspectives in theoretical frameworksand the need for context-sensitive approaches in analysingsocial class representations. 2025-09-01T10:23:16Z 2025-09-01T10:23:16Z 2025-06-27 journal article del Fresno‐Díaz, Á., García‐Sánchez, E., Padial‐Rojas, E., Willis, G. B., & de Lemus, S. (2025). Lay representations of social class: A mixed methods approach to wealth‐based group perceptions and stereotypes. British Journal of Social Psychology, 64(3), https://doi.org/10.1111/bjso.70003 https://hdl.handle.net/10481/105916 https://doi.org/10.1111/bjso.70003 eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ open access Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internacional Wiley