Does Inequality Beget Inequality? Experimental Tests of the Prediction that Inequality Increases System Justification Motivation
| Autor: | Kris-Stella Trump, Ariel R. White |
|---|---|
| Přispěvatelé: | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Political Science |
| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2017 |
| Předmět: |
Sociology and Political Science
Inequality Yield (finance) media_common.quotation_subject 05 social sciences 050109 social psychology Redistribution (cultural anthropology) 0506 political science Economic inequality Social system 050602 political science & public administration Cognitive dissonance Economics Survey data collection 0501 psychology and cognitive sciences Positive economics System justification media_common |
| Zdroj: | Other repository |
| Popis: | Past 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. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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