Overlapping Inequalities: Connecting Income Inequality With Health and Education Disparities Motivates Its Reduction

Abstract

People often justify income disparities. But what if these disparities create inequality in access to health care or higher education? Across four studies, we aimed to investigate whether perceiving income inequality overlap with health and education could lead to lesser acceptance of economic inequality and greater support for actions to reduce it. In Study 1 (N = 320), we found that perceived overlap predicted lower acceptance of economic inequality and greater support for collective actions and redistribution. Next, we found that exposing participants to information about high (vs. low) income inequality overlap with health (Study 2a; N = 178) and education (Study 2b; N = 184) decreased acceptance of economic inequality and increased support for collective actions and redistribution in fictitious societies. In Study 3 (N = 371), we replicated these results in a real-world context. Future interventions could show these overlapping inequalities to gain broader support for economic inequality reduction.

Keywords

perceived economic inequality health inequality education inequality collective actions redistribution

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Abásolo

Saez

López-Casasnovas

(2017). Financial crisis and income-related inequalities in the universal provision of a public service: The case of healthcare in Spain. International Journal for Equity in Health, 16(1), 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12939-017-0630-y

Agostini

van Zomeren

(2021). Toward a comprehensive and potentially cross-cultural model of why people engage in collective action: A quantitative research synthesis of four motivations and structural constraints. Psychological Bulletin, 147(7), 667–700.

Aron

E. N.

Smollan

(1992). Inclusion of other in the self scale and the structure of interpersonal closeness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 63(4), 596–612. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.63.4.596

Brown

R. M.

Dietze

Craig

M. A.

(2023). Highlighting health consequences of racial disparities sparks support for action. Science, 382(6677), 1394–1398. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adh4262

Castillo

J. C.

García-Castro

J. D.

Venegas

(2022). Perception of economic inequality: Concepts, associated factors and prospects of a burgeoning research agenda (Percepción de desigualdad económica: conceptos, factores asociados y proyecciones de una agenda creciente de investigación). International Journal of Social Psychology, 37(1), 180–207. https://doi.org/10.1080/02134748.2021.2009275

Castillo

J. C.

Torres

Atria

Maldonado

(2019). Meritocracy and economic inequality: Perceptions, preferences and implications. Revista Internacional de Sociologia, 77(1), 1–15. https://doi.org/10.3989/ris.2019.77.1.17.114

Charness

Gneezy

Kuhn

M. A.

(2012). Experimental methods: Between-subject and within-subject design. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 81(1), 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2011.08.009

Cheng

Soulos

P. R.

Irwin

M. L.

Cespedes Feliciano

E. M.

Presley

C. J.

Fuchs

C. S.

Meyerhardt

J. A.

Gross

C. P.

(2021). Neighborhood and individual socioeconomic disadvantage and survival among patients with nonmetastatic common cancers. JAMA Network Open, 4(12), 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.39593

Choi

(2019). Revisiting the redistribution hypothesis with perceived inequality and redistributive preferences. European Journal of Political Economy, 58, 220–244. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejpoleco.2018.12.004

10.

Day

M. V.

Norton

M. I.

(2023). Perceived and ideal inequality in university endowments in the United States. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 49(8), 1151–1165. https://doi.org/10.1177/01461672221083766

11.

Doerrenberg

Peichl

(2014). The impact of redistributive policies on inequality in OECD countries. Applied Economics, 46(17), 2066–2086. https://doi.org/10.1080/00036846.2014.892202

12.

Faul

Erdfelder

Lang

A. G.

Buchner

(2007). G*Power 3: A flexible statistical power analysis program for the social, behavioral, and biomedical sciences. Behavior Research Methods, 39(2), 175–191. https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03193146

13.

Fiedler

Schott

Meiser

(2011). What mediation analysis can (not) do. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 47(6), 1231–1236. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2011.05.007

14.

Furnham

Boo

H. C.

(2011). A literature review of the anchoring effect. The Journal of Socio-Economics, 40(1), 35–42. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socec.2010.10.008

15.

García-Castro

J. D.

García-Sánchez

Montoya-Lozano

Rodríguez-Bailón

(2021). The perception of economic inequality in everyday life: My friends with the most and least money. Asian Journal of Social Psychology, 25, 20–34. https://doi.org/10.1111/ajsp.12476

16.

García-Castro

J. D.

García-Sánchez

Willis

G. B.

Castillo

J. C.

Rodríguez-Bailón

(2022). Perceived economic inequality measures and their association with objective inequality and redistributive preferences. Social Psychology, 53(5), 277–291. https://doi.org/10.1027/1864-9335/a000498

17.

García-Castro

J. D.

González

Frigolett

Jimenez-Moya

Rodríguez-Bailón

Willis

G. B.

(2022). Changing attitudes toward redistribution: The role of perceived economic inequality in everyday life and intolerance of inequality. Journal of Social Psychology, 163(4), 566–581. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224545.2021.2006126

18.

García-Castro

J. D.

Rodríguez-Bailón

Willis

G. B.

(2020). Perceiving economic inequality in everyday life decreases tolerance to inequality. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 90, 104019. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2020.104019

19.

García-Castro

J. D.

Willis

G. B.

Rodríguez-Bailón

(2019). I know people who can and who cannot: A measure of the perception of economic inequality in everyday life. Social Science Journal, 56(4), 599–608. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soscij.2018.09.008

20.

García-Sánchez

Castillo

J. C.

Rodríguez-Bailón

Willis

G. B.

(2022). The two faces of support for redistribution in Colombia: Taxing the wealthy or assisting people in need. Frontiers in Sociology, 7, Article 773378. https://doi.org/10.3389/fsoc.2022.773378

21.

García-Sánchez

Correia

Pereira

C. R.

Willis

G. B.

Rodríguez-Bailón

Vala

(2021). How fair is economic inequality? Belief in a just world and the legitimation of economic disparities in 27 European countries. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 48(3), 382–395. https://doi.org/10.1177/01461672211002366

22.

García-Sánchez

García-Castro

J. D.

Willis

G. B.

Rodríguez-Bailón

(2022). Percepción de desigualdad económica en la vida cotidiana e ideología política: Un estudio con jóvenes de España [Perception of economic inequality in everyday life according to political ideology: A study involving young people in Spain]. Revista de Estudios Sociales, 79, 2–21. https://doi.org/10.7440/res79.2022.01

23.

García-Sánchez

Van der Toorn

Rodríguez-Bailón

Willis

G. B.

(2019). The vicious cycle of economic inequality: The role of ideology in shaping the relationship between “what is” and “what ought to be” in 41 countries. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 10(8), 991–1001. https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550618811500

24.

García-Sánchez

Willis

G. B.

Rodríguez-Bailón

García-Castro

J. D.

Palacio-Sañudo

Polo

Rentería-Pérez

(2018). Perceptions of economic inequality in Colombian daily life: More than unequal distribution of economic resources. Frontiers in Psychology, 9, Article 1660. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01660

25.

Hoffman

(2015). Longitudinal analysis: Modeling within-person fluctuation and change. Routledge.

26.

Howarth

Marteau

T. M.

Coutts

A. P.

Huppert

J. L.

Pinto

P. R.

(2019). What do the British public think of inequality in health, wealth, and power? Social Science and Medicine, 222, 198–206. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2019.01.006

27.

Hoyt

C. L.

Moss

A. J.

Burnette

J. L.

Schieffelin

Goethals

(2018). Wealth inequality and activism: Perceiving injustice galvanizes social change but perceptions depend on political ideologies. European Journal of Social Psychology, 48(1), O81–O90. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.2289

28.

Igliozzi

Granot

Ottati

(2024). A fair share: Effects of disparity, allocation strategy and system justification on perceptions of policy support in the education domain. European Journal of Social Psychology, 54(3), 688–700. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.3040

29.

Jetten

Peters

Álvarez

Casara

B. G. S.

Dare

Kirkland

Sánchez-Rodríguez

Á.

Selvanathan

H. P.

Sprong

Tanjitpiyanond

Wang

Mols

(2021). Consequences of economic inequality for the social and political vitality of society: A social identity analysis. Political Psychology, 42(S1), 241–266. https://doi.org/10.1111/pops.12800

30.

J. I.

Choi

H. J.

(2019). Enigmas of grievances about inequality: Effects of attitudes toward inequality and government redistribution on protest participation. International Area Studies Review, 22(4), 348–368. https://doi.org/10.1177/2233865919833973

31.

London School of Economics and Political Science. (2024). Multidimensional inequality framework. https://sticerd.lse.ac.uk/inequality/

32.

Louis

W. R.

(2009). Collective action—And then what? Journal of Social Issues, 65(4), 727–748. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4560.2009.01623.x

33.

Macchia

Ariely

(2021). Eliciting preferences for redistribution across domains: A study on wealth, education, and health. Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy, 21(1), 1141–1166. https://doi.org/10.1111/asap.12279

34.

Maxwell

S. E.

Cole

D. A.

(2007). Bias in cross-sectional analyses of longitudinal mediation. Psychological Methods, 12(1), 23–44. https://doi.org/10.1037/1082-989X.12.1.23

35.

Mitchell

Tetlock

P. E.

(2009). Disentangling reasons and rationalizations: Exploring perceived fairness in hypothetical societies. In Jost

J. T.

Kay

A. C.

Thorisdottir

(Eds.), Social and psychological bases of ideology and system justification (pp. 126–157). Oxford University Press.

36.

Montoya-Lozano

Moreno-Bella

García-Castro

J. D.

Willis

G. B.

Rodríguez-Bailón

(2023). Spanish adaptation of the Support for Economic Inequality Scale (S-SEIS). Psicothema, 35(3), 310–318. https://doi.org/10.7334/psicothema2022.226

37.

R Core Team. (2024). R: A language and environment for statistical computing [R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria]. https://www.R-project.org/

38.

Schmalor

Heine

S. J.

(2022). The construct of subjective economic inequality. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 13(1), 210–219. https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550621996867

39.

Selvitopu

Kaya

(2023). A meta-analytic review of the effect of socioeconomic status on academic performance. Journal of Education, 203(4), 768–780. https://doi.org/10.1177/00220574211031978

40.

Shankardass

Lofters

Kirst

Quĩonez

(2012). Public awareness of income-related health inequalities in Ontario, Canada. International Journal for Equity in Health, 11, 26. https://doi.org/10.1186/1475-9276-11-26

41.

Soler-Martínez

F. M.

García-Sánchez

Willis

G. B.

(2023). Concerns about inequality in health, education and income jointly predict collective actions. Revista Latinoamericana de Psicología, 55, 99–108. https://doi.org/10.14349/rlp.2023.v55.12

42.

Son Hing

L. S.

Wilson

A. E.

Gourevitch

English

Sin

. (2019). Failure to respond to rising income inequality: Processes that legitimize growing disparities. Daedalus, 148(3), 105–135. https://doi.org/10.1162/DAED_a_01752

43.

Stuckler

Reeves

Loopstra

Karanikolos

McKee

(2017). Austerity and health: The impact in the UK and Europe. European Journal of Public Health, 27(Suppl. 4), 18–21. https://doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/ckx167

44.

Trump

K. S.

(2020). When and why is economic inequality seen as fair. Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences, 34, 46–51. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cobeha.2019.12.001

45.

United Nations. (1948). Universal declaration of human rights (217A) [Paris]. https://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration- human-rights/

46.

United Nations Development Programme. (2024). Human development index. https://hdr.undp.org/data-center/human-development-index#/indicies/HDI

47.

van Zomeren

Postmes

Spears

. (2008). Toward an integrative social identity model of collective action: A quantitative research synthesis of three socio-psychological perspectives. Psychological Bulletin, 134(4), 504–535. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.134.4.504

48.

Velandia-Morales

Rodríguez-Bailón

Martínez

(2022). Economic inequality increases the preference for status consumption. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, Article 809101. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.809101

49.

Vlaev

(2012). How different are real and hypothetical decisions? Overestimation, contrast and assimilation in social interaction. Journal of Economic Psychology, 33(5), 963–972. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joep.2012.05.005

50.

von Stumm

Smith-Woolley

Ayorech

McMillan

Rimfeld

Dale

P. S.

Plomin

. (2020). Predicting educational achievement from genomic measures and socioeconomic status. Developmental Science, 23(3), Article e12925. https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.12925

51.

Walzer

(1983). Spheres of justice: A defense of pluralism and equality. Basic Books.

52.

Willis

G. B.

García-Sánchez

Sánchez-Rodríguez

Á.

García-Castro

J. D.

Rodríguez-Bailón

(2022). The psychosocial effects of economic inequality depend on its perception. Nature Reviews Psychology, 1, 301–309. https://doi.org/10.1038/s44159-022-00044-0

53.

Willis

G. B.

Rodríguez-Bailón

López-Rodríguez

García-Sánchez

(2015). Legitimacy moderates the relation between perceived and ideal economic inequalities. Social Justice Research, 28(4), 493–508. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11211-015-0253-7

54.

Wiwad

Mercier

Maraun

M. D.

Robinson

A. R.

Piff

P. K.

Aknin

L. B.

Shariff

A. F.

(2019). The support for economic inequality scale: Development and adjudication. PLOS ONE, 14(6), 1–29. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0218685

Supplementary Material

Please find the following supplemental material available below.

For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.

For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.

0.00 MB

0.49 MB