Attitudes towards income inequality: ‘Winners’ versus ‘losers’ of the perceived meritocracy

Karlijn Roex; Timothy Hubertus Maria Huijts; Inge Sieben

doi:10.1177/0001699317748340

Attitudes towards income inequality: ‘Winners’ versus ‘losers’ of the perceived meritocracy

Karlijn Roex, Timothy Hubertus Maria Huijts, Inge Sieben

Sociology

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Individuals with a higher social position are more tolerant of current income inequality than individuals with a lower social position. Besides this, attitudes towards income inequality are influenced by inequality-legitimising myths in a given society. Little is known about how these two factors interact. This study combines these two lines of research and argues that different social strata are more polarised in their attitudes towards inequality in societies with strong prevalent meritocratic perceptions. We expect lower-status individuals (i.e. with a lower income or education) to experience a threat to their group esteem and therefore be less likely to support their society’s inequalities in societies with such strong meritocratic perceptions. This hypothesis was tested using data from the International Social Survey Programme 2009 (Social Inequality) on 39 countries. The results show that different social strata are indeed more polarised in their attitudes towards inequality in societies where meritocratic perceptions are more prevalent. Our results are robust for income, but not for education. This suggests that in perceived meritocracies, people regard income as the primary indicator of effort and ability.

Original language	English
Journal	ACTA SOCIOLOGICA
Volume	62
Issue number	1
Early online date	11 Jan 2018
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1177/0001699317748340
Publication status	Published - 2019

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10.1177/0001699317748340

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title = "Attitudes towards income inequality: {\textquoteleft}Winners{\textquoteright} versus {\textquoteleft}losers{\textquoteright} of the perceived meritocracy",

abstract = "Individuals with a higher social position are more tolerant of current income inequality than individuals with a lower social position. Besides this, attitudes towards income inequality are influenced by inequality-legitimising myths in a given society. Little is known about how these two factors interact. This study combines these two lines of research and argues that different social strata are more polarised in their attitudes towards inequality in societies with strong prevalent meritocratic perceptions. We expect lower-status individuals (i.e. with a lower income or education) to experience a threat to their group esteem and therefore be less likely to support their society{\textquoteright}s inequalities in societies with such strong meritocratic perceptions. This hypothesis was tested using data from the International Social Survey Programme 2009 (Social Inequality) on 39 countries. The results show that different social strata are indeed more polarised in their attitudes towards inequality in societies where meritocratic perceptions are more prevalent. Our results are robust for income, but not for education. This suggests that in perceived meritocracies, people regard income as the primary indicator of effort and ability.",

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AU - Sieben, Inge

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