Abstract: The subjective class identification of residents in China often does not align with their objective economic status, and the phenomenon of "downward identification" is widespread. Existing research has paid more attention to the impact of individual endowments on class identification, but has paid less attention to the role of regional opportunity fairness in this process. This paper examines the impact of regional inequality of opportunity on residents’ subjective class identity based on microdata from six periods of the China General Social Survey (CGSS) from 2010 to 2018. The empirical results show that inequality of opportunity significantly reduces residents’ subjective class identity, and leads to the problem of 'lower class identity bias’. Mechanistic analyses suggest that inequality of opportunity reduces class identity by lowering the level of employment and increasing the sense of relative deprivation. Heterogeneity analysis shows that the negative effect is more pronounced for the youth group, the highly skilled labor force, and the agricultural household registration group. This paper adds to the literature on the impact of inequality of opportunity on residents’ welfare level and provides a possible explanation for the "mystery of downward shift" of residents’ class identity in China. In the new era, China still needs to deepen the reform of the income distribution system to promote fairness of opportunity and social mobility, and then enhance the class identity of the residents.

Key words: inequality of opportunity, class identity, relative deprivation, social attitude