Young Children's Representations of Wealth and Poverty Across Socioeconomic Contexts

This study examined how children aged 5–6 perceive wealth and poverty and whether these perceptions vary according to their own socioeconomic context. Using a qualitative research design, data were collected through children's drawings of a ‘rich person’ and a ‘poor person’, followed by semi‐structured interviews in which they explained their representations. The study was conducted with children attending public and private preschool institutions in Türkiye, enabling a comparative analysis across different socioeconomic settings. The findings indicate that children in both contexts primarily relied on concrete and visible cues, such as housing conditions, material possessions and emotional expressions, when constructing their representations of wealth and poverty. Wealth was most often associated with happiness, power and social importance, whereas poverty was linked to material deprivation, sadness and vulnerability. At the same time, the richness, level of detail and symbolic diversity of these representations varied according to socioeconomic background. Gendered patterns were particularly more pronounced in lower socioeconomic contexts, where wealth was more frequently depicted through adult male figures, while women's economic status appeared in more limited or indirect ways. Social evaluations further revealed that poor individuals were more often described as kind‐hearted and helpful, whereas rich individuals were more frequently preferred as friends. Children's perceptions of social relationships and their expectations regarding teachers' fairness also differed across socioeconomic contexts. Overall, the findings suggest that from early childhood onward, children are not only aware of economic inequalities but also begin to internalize class‐ and gender‐related social stereotypes in ways that are both context‐sensitive and developmentally shaped.