Inequality Perceptions, Preferences Conducive to Redistribution, and the Conditioning Role of Social Position (original) (raw)
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Individuals' Inequality Perceptions and Redistributive Preferences in OECD Countries
Traditional accounts such as the redistribution theory posit that attitudes towards redistribution are driven by economic self-interest. From a social psychological perspective, however, subjective socioeconomic status rather than material wealth is relevant basis for self-interest that is closely associated with policy preferences. This inquiry goes further and explores the role of individuals' inequality perceptions including perceptions of inequality norms, which little attention has been paid to so far, in shaping individual preferences for redistribution. For the empirical analysis, new measures of perceived actual inequality, perceived normative inequality, and perceived injustice have been developed that aim to overcome the limitations of the existing perceptions of inequality measures; the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) micro-data are used to create them, which covers 31 OECD countries over the four waves: 1987, 1992, 1999, and 2009. The empirical evidence shows that various dimensions of inequality perceptions are significantly associated with individuals' redistributive preferences as hypothesized, and that individuals' inequality norms play a more crucial role in preference formation than do their perceptions of reality, which sheds new light on another facet of inequality perceptions.
Perceptions of Inequality and Redistribution: A Note
Documents de Travail du Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne, 2019
This paper shows that perceptions of inequality are a key factor in the formation of preferences for redistribution and thereby in the determination of the equilibrium redistribution level. We build on the novel stylized facts provided by the recent empirical and experimental literature on perceptions of income inequality. In brief, the emerging consensus is that agents incorrectly estimate the shape of the income distribution because of limited information. Agents with income above the mean believe they are poorer than they actually are, and agents with income below the mean believe themselves to be richer. We revisit the standard framework on the political economy of redistribution and extend it in two ways. First, we assume a more general two-sided inequality aversion. Second, we incorporate perceptions of income inequality in the model. We show analytically that the equilibrium redistribution level is crucially determined by the interplay between the information treatment correcting the bias in perceptions of inequality and fairness considerations specified by the degree of inequality aversion. By doing this, we add (biased) perceptions of inequality to the list of potential factors explaining why, notwithstanding high levels of inequality, in many countries, an increase in the desire for redistribution has not been observed.
Attitudes towards redistribution and the interplay between perceptions and beliefs about inequality
British Journal of Social Psychology, 2019
Although economic inequality has increased over the last few decades, support for redistributive policies is not widely accepted by the public. In this paper, we examine whether attitudes towards redistribution are a product of both perceptions of, and beliefs about, inequality. Specifically, we argue that the association between perceived inequality and support for redistribution varies by beliefs that justify inequality. We investigated this hypothesis in a cross-cultural/country sample (N = 56,021 from 41 countries) using two different operationalizations of support for redistribution and two distinct beliefs that justify inequality. As hypothesized, the perceived size of the income gap correlated positively with believing that it is the government's responsibility to reduce inequality among those who rejected beliefs that justify inequality, whereas there was no association for those who endorsed these beliefs. Similarly, perceived economic inequality correlated positively with support for progressive taxation, but this association was weaker among those who endorsed meritocratic and equal opportunity beliefs. Together, these results demonstrate that ideologies influence the relationship between perceived inequality and attitudes towards redistribution, and that support for redistribution varies by how the policy is framed.
It is a long-standing puzzle whether changes in economic inequality lead to changes in redistribution. However, there has been a lack of conclusive evidence about this relationship. Moreover, redistributive preferences as an intervening factor between inequality and redistribution, which are taken for granted implicitly or explicitly in redistribution theories, have been largely overlooked in the analysis. Meanwhile, recent comparative studies of inequality and redistribution started paying attention to inequality perceptions that do not directly reflect factual inequality. Thus, this inquiry aims to reconstruct the classical redistribution theory with preferences for redistribution and perceived inequality and test the reformulated redistribution hypotheses. One of the most challenging efforts for the analysis is to develop an appropriate measure of perceived inequality. To this end, the Gini coefficient of perceived social position (perceived Gini) is first invented by using the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) data, which covers 33 OECD countries over the period from 1987 to 2016. The empirical results show robust evidence that perceived inequality, not actual inequality, is significantly associated with redistributive preferences, while preferences for redistribution do not translate into any type of redistribution.
How Consistent Are Perceptions of Inequality?
2019
Despite recent findings in the literature that give evidence of the importance of perceived inequality in motivating social and political behavior, its analysis is still under explored. In this paper we study whether perceptions of inequality are reflected in the individual opinions in a consistent fashion. Using the wave from the 2009 International Social Survey Program in the US, we first propose a methodology for testing the presence of inconsistencies in the perception of inequality. We then show that inconsistencies exist though they may not extend to all the domains of inequality. Inconsistency is informationally valuable because it unveils the respondents’ opinions over the determinants of inequality. It therefore allows to understand what respondents think that deserves equal consideration. Yet, inconsistency is informationally valuable also for political reasons because, through equal consideration, it unveils the prevailing view of equal political treatment that respondents uphold. To confirm the relationship between equal consideration and political treatment we test and find that inconsistency is associated with a set of relevant political preferences. Our results confirm that perceived inequality motivates political behavior.
European Journal of Sociology, 2013
This study reviews international comparative studies investigating people’s views on inequality. These studies are classified using a framework consisting of three types of conceptions of inequality and two dimensions of inequality. Four perspectives are discussed explaining cross-national differences in views on inequality: the modernist, the culturalist, the micro and the macro perspective. The findings of studies comparing views on inequalities in post-communist and Western states provide more support for the modernist than for the culturalist perspective. Few comparative studies appear to investigate views on inequalities as independent variables impacting on other social attitudes and behaviours. It is argued that the social relevance of the field will be enhanced if more studies can show that views on inequality have an effect on social outcomes complementary to that of objective inequalities.
Social Forces, 2018
Our understanding of cross-national differences in the relationship between social class location and voting choices has improved substantially in the last decade. Yet scholarship about cross-national and longitudinal variations in the relationship between class location and policy preferences remains neglected. This paper addresses this important gap in the literature through a comparative, longitudinal analysis of the substantial, cross-national variation of class differences in pro-redistribution attitudes. To explain this variation, we focus on the role of preexisting policies and engage with an ongoing debate in the policy feedbacks literature. The self-interest approach argues that higher redistribution creates the incentives among the upper classes to oppose redistribution, widening the class cleavage. By contrast, the normative approach argues that universal social policy regimes meet the fairness criteria of middle and upper classes, thereby reducing attitudinal differences. Using an innovative dataset containing 106 country-years between 1985 and 2010, our study supports the self-interest approach. Countries achieving more redistribution display larger class cleavages in pro-redistribution attitudes, while universalism does not reduce this divide. The study further shows that redistribution and class cleavage are linearly related, because redistribution bolsters the already low commitment with inequality reduction in the upper service and lower service classes.
Growing income inequality, growing legitimacy: a longitudinal approach to perceptions of inequality
2019
Scholars studying preferences for redistribution are puzzled. How can we explain the stable and relatively low support for redistributive policies while economic inequality has risen to unprecedented levels? To solve this puzzle, we ask three questions: Do we build our perception of inequalities based on objective inequalities? Do the perceived inequalities influence our willingness to accept larger inequalities? Are these discrepancies rising these last three decades? To do so we exploit the ISSP module on inequality and trace perceptions of inequality and fairness evaluation over time and in cross-national perspective. Our results suggest that there is no clear trend of rising distortions over time. On the contrary, perceptions of inequality rose sharply between 1999 and 2009, an observation which is especially true for top-end inequality. However, we find little evidence that individuals adjust their fairness evaluation in times of rising inequality. Our results indicate that the gap between perceived and fair inequality is a strong predictor for preferences for redistribution, but this its influence tends to decrease over time.
Perceived Inequality and Policy Preferences
Center for Social Norms and Behavioral dynamics Working Papers, 2021
Economic inequality in the US has increased since the 1950s, yet this has not been accompanied by increased taxation and redistribution. The question how US Americans (mis-)perceive this inequality and to what extent this perception can translate into a demand for redistribution has therefore become an important policy question and a recent academic debate. We investigate how perceived income inequality causally a ects people's fairness views and their support for redistribution in a comprehensive and well-powered survey experiment with a representative sample of US Americans. We find precisely estimated null e ects. While US Americans underestimate the extend of poverty and, in particular, strongly overestimate the income of top earners, there is no evidence for a causal e ect of perceived inequality on political views or behavior. We test the role of a series of moderators and find that this null e ect holds for di erent income groups and party a liations, as well as for participants with di erent levels of trust in government and with di erent levels of perceived personal autonomy. Our study thus suggests that informing people about the extent of inequality in a society will not e ectively alter their support for redistributive policies.