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Introduction: Some studies asserted that people with higher socioeconomic status tend towards more competitive behavior. In contrast, people with low socioeconomic status tend to show more good intentions and prevent competitive behavior. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between middle-aged men's socioeconomic status and their tendency towards competition for resources in an economic decision-making condition. Moreover, we reviewed the role of a sense of power in the relationship between the subjective perception of participants’ socioeconomic status and their tendency towards competition for resources.
Methods: The current study used the causal-comparative design on two sample groups with high and low socioeconomic status samples. For controlling probable effects of gender and age of participants, in this study, 180 middle-aged men between 30 and 60 years old participated in the study by convenience sampling. This research recruited samples with high and low socioeconomic status from saloon 2 of Mehrabad airport and waiting hall of South bus terminal. Participants took part in the study anonymously and could exit from the study at any step. At the first step of the study, all participants filled out a consent form to participate in the study. Ethical approval for this study was obtained from the Ethics Committee of the University of Iran, Tehran. The researchers used the MacArthur Scale of subjective social status, a sense of power questionnaire, and a question about a decision-making condition. In addition, participants answered some demographic questions about their income, age, the city they live in, and the city they work in.
Results: People in the high socioeconomic status group showed a higher sense of power and a tendency towards competition for resources. The model that we used showed that in the low socioeconomic status group, people’s subjective perception of socioeconomic status predicted the tendency of people towards competition for resources. In addition, a sense of power as a mediator variable could increase the predictability of participants' tendency towards competition for resources from their subjective perception of socioeconomic status. There were no relationships between these variables in the high socioeconomic status sample group.
Conclusion: Results support the hypothesis that people with high socioeconomic status have a higher sense of power and a tendency towards competition for resources. People with high socioeconomic status receive more positive feedback from the environment, increasing their optimism and sense of control in their daily lives. Besides, results show that the relationship between subjective perception of socioeconomic status, sense of power, and tendency towards competition for resources differ in people with high and low socioeconomic status. In the low socioeconomic sample group, participants who recognized themselves higher in social hierarchy were oriented towards competition for resources. These findings support the hypothesis that people with lower socioeconomic status do not tend towards competition for resources. However, we did not found such a relationship in high socioeconomic status sample group participants.
 

Keywords: Socioeconomic status, Economic competition, Power

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