SRP Year
2011-2012
Principal Investigator(s)
Study Description
The purpose of this study is to investigate the link between status, consumption, and life satisfaction. A nationally-representative survey of U.S. residents was fielded to extend sociological research on styles of cultural consumption to consideration of consumption more generally. The research examines how processes of social comparison and reference groups might vary by social location across a range of visible, positional goods and how styles of consumption and reference groups affect life satisfaction. Information on respondents’ cultural consumption and on a range of socio-demographic characteristics was also collected.
Research Team
Stacey Giroux
Kristin Jordan
Kevin Doran
Kody Steffy
Tom VanHeuvelen
Jill Waity
Lauren Apgar
Jenifer Berry
John Coutley
Lydia DiSabatino
Meredith Haag
Elizabeth Martinez
Michael Metroka
Natasha Yurk
Jacob Miller
Trenton Mize
Jennifer Puentes
Daniel Rudel
Eric Sevell
Tamara van der Does
Elizabeth Zack
Undergraduate Research Assistants
Karolina Gontarczuk
Emily Harrison
Marie Kosakowski
Sophia Lyman
Trevor Loney
Brenna MacLean
Mary Kathryn Tilly
Daphna Yeshua-Katz
Lelia Samson
Samantha Tinsley
Benjamin Garceau
Ethan Raker
This study was conducted with support from the staff at the Center for Survey Research at Indiana University and used the Center's centralized telephone interviewing facility located on the Bloomington campus. CSR interviewers assisted in data collection.
Sources of Support
This study was supported by funding from the United States-Israel Binational Science Foundation (Award #2010241) and the College of Arts and Sciences at Indiana University-Bloomington.