Individuals' Socioeconomic Position, Inequality Perceptions, and Redistributive Preferences

Principal Investigator(s):  View help for Principal Investigator(s) Gwangeun Choi, University of Essex

Version:  View help for Version V4

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Socioeconomic-Position-Inequality-Perceptions-and-Redistributive-Preferences.zip application/zip 34.8 MB 11/10/2019 01:01:AM

Project Citation: 

Choi, Gwangeun. Individuals’ Socioeconomic Position, Inequality Perceptions, and Redistributive Preferences. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2019-11-10. https://doi.org/10.3886/E101258V4

Project Description

Summary:  View help for Summary The standard model of redistribution posits that attitudes towards redistribution are driven by pure economic self-interest, such as current income. From a social-psychological perspective, however, subjective social status, apart from objective income or social status, is also closely associated with policy preferences. This inquiry directly compares these two different approaches and further explores the role of individuals’ inequality perceptions, including personal norms of inequality to which researchers have paid little attention so far, in shaping individuals’ preferences for redistribution. The current evidence shows that the explanatory power of objective income position is not stronger than that of subjective social position in determining redistributive preferences, while objective social position, which is a summary measure of income, education, and occupation, is more strongly associated with the preferences than perceived social position. The results also demonstrate that individuals’ inequality norms play a more crucial role in the preference formation than does their perceptions of actual inequality. These new findings contribute to redistributive politics and behavioural economics on other-regarding preferences, first, by rebutting the determining role of objective income position in shaping redistributive preferences, as opposed to the basic assumption of the conventional redistribution hypothesis; second, by providing the empirical evidence of the importance of social preferences outside the field of experimental studies.

Scope of Project

Subject Terms:  View help for Subject Terms redistributive preferences; Meltzer-Richard model; objective income position; objective social position; perceived social position; perceived injustice; perceived actual inequality; personal norms of inequality
Geographic Coverage:  View help for Geographic Coverage global
Time Period(s):  View help for Time Period(s) 1987 – 2009
Universe:  View help for Universe 31 OECD countries
Data Type(s):  View help for Data Type(s) survey data

Methodology

Data Source:  View help for Data Source The International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) micro-data, four waves: 1987, 1992, 1999, and 2009.
Unit(s) of Observation:  View help for Unit(s) of Observation individuals
Geographic Unit:  View help for Geographic Unit country

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Published Versions

V4 [2019-11-10]

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