A Study on the Correlation between Social Class and Life Satisfaction Perceived by the Korean Elderly

The purpose of this study is to analyze the effects of subjective class consciousness on life satisfaction. This research aimed to not only analyze the relative explanatory power, but also the influence of satisfaction of life within the socioeconomic status where the elderly consider themselves to be an integral part. The elderly’s satisfaction in life was analyzed in comparison with demographic characteristics such as gender and age. The correlations of objective socioeconomic characteristics such as income level and education level were also observed. For this purpose, the Korea Labor Panel 17th data (2014) was used to conduct a one-way batch distribution analysis and a hierarchical regression analysis. It was seen that there was a correlation in the Korean elderly in terms of class consciousness and life satisfaction. The elderly with a lower subjective class consciousness showed lower life satisfaction. The relative influences were stronger than the demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of the elderly, and the explanatory power was much higher than the objective income levels. These results show that the subjective perception of their socioeconomic status has a significant influence on the level of life satisfaction of the Korean elderly, independent of the objective income level.