Previous research using occupational titles to manipulate perceptions of social class and status has not routinely applied systematic identification criteria in establishing class-specific occupations. Here we report on a set of occupational titles rated on a number of class-relevant factors, including aspects of socioeconomic status (SES), social class, subjective social status, and several general characteristics. After describing the procedure and occupation characteristics, we demonstrate consequential variations between occupations that could influence experimental procedures when operationalizing social class or SES. Using a second study, this includes manipulating target SES in a demonstration of the shifting standards model of stereotypic judgments.

An individual’s placement in and perceptions of different social stratifications, including social class rank, socioeconomic status (SES), and social/community status, can have profound psychological and practical implications (American Psychological Association, Task Force on Socioeconomic Status, 2007; Kraus & Stephens, 2012). However, although some social science fields have directed considerable attention to the impact of social stratification on various social factors and life events, psychology, as a field, has not been a major player in this work. Recently, however, the call has gone out to psychologists to become more active participants in these endeavors (American Psychological Association, Task Force on Socioeconomic Status, 2007; Day, Rickett, & Woolhouse, 2014; Fiske & Markus, 2012; Kraus & Stephens, 2012; Kraus, Tan, & Tannenbaum, 2013). Whereas a body of correlational research representing a range of social scientific approaches articulates the relationships between social stratification and a variety of factors, including health outcomes (eg, Adler, Epel, Castellazzo, & Ickovics, 2000), academic achievement (eg, Johnson, Richeson, & Finkel, 2011), and selfconcept (eg, Stephens, Markus, & Townsend, 2007), substantially less research has used the experimental