What predicts perceived economic inequality? The roles of actual inequality, system justification, and fairness considerations

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hongfei Du ◽  
Ronnel B. King
Keyword(s):  
Economic Inequality ◽  
System Justification ◽  
Inequality System

scholarly journals Preprint of "What predicts perceived economic inequality? The roles of actual inequality, system justification, and fairness considerations"

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hongfei Du ◽  
Ronnel B. King
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
Income Inequality ◽  
Strong Predictor ◽  
Economic Inequality ◽  
Sociodemographic Factors ◽  
System Justification ◽  
Longitudinal Analyses ◽  
Inequality System ◽  
Longitudinal Effects ◽  
Nationally Representative

Past studies have mostly focused on investigating actual economic inequality with less work devoted to understanding perceived economic inequality and its antecedents. However, numerous studies have shown that perceived inequality is a strong predictor of psychological, political, and social outcomes and hence is an important outcome in and of itself. This paper aims to identify the socioecological (i.e., actual inequality) and psychological (legitimation and fairness considerations) antecedents of perceived economic inequality. We hypothesized that individuals who legitimized income inequality would perceive less inequality, whereas individuals who experienced unfairness engendered by income inequality would perceive more inequality. We utilized a nationally representative sample in China (N = 33,600 respondents nested within 25 provinces) and conducted multilevel longitudinal analyses to test our hypotheses. In line with our predictions, we found that legitimation of inequality was associated with less perceived inequality six years later, whereas unfairness was associated with more perceived inequality six years later. In addition, we found that in more unequal areas, people perceived less income inequality. These longitudinal effects were robust when controlling for prior years of perceived inequality, economic development, and sociodemographic factors. Findings have implications for system justification and economic inequality theories.

scholarly journals Does Inequality Beget Inequality? Experimental Tests of the Prediction that Inequality Increases System Justification Motivation

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 206-216 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kris-Stella Trump ◽  
Ariel White
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Approach ◽  
Economic Inequality ◽  
Experimental Tests ◽  
Past Research ◽  
System Justification ◽  
Cross Sectional Survey ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Psychological Need ◽  
System Justification Theory ◽  
Experimental Treatments

AbstractPast research shows that growing inequality often does not result in citizen demands for redistribution. We examine one mechanism that could explain why people do not protest growing inequality: a particular sub-prediction of system justification theory (SJT). SJT argues that humans have a psychological need to justify their social system. The specific sub-prediction of SJT tested here is the idea that inequality itself increases system justification. This could yield a negative feedback loop in which political responses to inequality grows ever less likely as inequality grows more extreme. Previous research on this hypothesis relied on cross-sectional survey data and provided mixed results. We take an experimental approach and ask whether exposure to economic inequality makes people more likely to defend the system. In one main study and two replications with varying samples, experimental treatments, and outcome measures, we find no evidence that information about economic inequality increases system justification motivation.

Ideology and Protest, the Roles of System Justification and Disruptiveness

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dominic Abrams ◽  
Vagelis Chaikalis-Petritsis ◽  
John T. Jost ◽  
Jim Sidanius ◽  
Jojanneke van der Toorn ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
System Justification
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