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Exposure to rising inequality shapes Americans' opportunity beliefs and policy support
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Significance: Although rising economic inequality in the United States has alarmed many, research across the social sciences repeatedly concludes that Americans are largely unconcerned about it. We argue that this conclusion may be premature. Here, we present the results of three experiments that test a different perspective—the opportunity model of beliefs about inequality. Tempering the conclusions of past work, the findings suggest that perceptions of rising economic inequality spark skepticism about the existence of economic opportunity in society that, in turn, may motivate support for equity-enhancing policies. Hence, this work calls for new theoretical and methodological approaches to the study of rising economic inequality, especially those that bridge disciplinary boundaries, as well as the largely separate experimental and correlational literatures.
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“In another experiment, participants were more likely to express that it is the government's responsibility to reduce inequality when they had been informed about the income distribution and the rising levels of inequality in the US (McCall et al., 2017).”
From Factual belief polarization between Democrats and Republicans: source or epiphenomenon of ideological and affective polarization? (2024) · cites this paper as McCall et al., 2017
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“exposing American participants to information about the rising economic inequality, compared to control information, led to stronger perceptions that economic success is due to structural factors rather than individual effort.”
From The psychology of social class: How socioeconomic status impacts thought, feelings, and behaviour (2018) · cites this paper as McCall, Burk, Laperrière, and Richeson (2017)
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“In the largest of the three studies, involving a representative sample of American adults, it was also found that information about rising inequality led to greater endorsement of policies that could be implemented by government and by business to reduce inequality.”
From The psychology of social class: How socioeconomic status impacts thought, feelings, and behaviour (2018) · cites this paper as McCall, Burk, Laperrière, and Richeson (2017)
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How Crises Shape Circles of Solidarity: Evidence From the COVID-19 Pandemic in Italy
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BackgroundFrom Perceived Economic Inequality to Support for Redistribution: The Role of Meritocracy Perception
Tejero-Peregrina, L., Willis, G. B., Sánchez‐Rodríguez, Á., & Rodríguez‐Bailón, R. (2025) · International Review of Social Psychology · doi:10.5334/irsp.1013 · Cited by 11
Valentino, L., & Yadon, N. D. (2022) · Social Currents · doi:10.1177/23294965221139845 · Cited by 13
Hoy, C., Toth, R., & Merdikawati, N. (2024) · The Journal of Economic Inequality · doi:10.1007/s10888-023-09609-2 · Cited by 9
“Firstly, there is a risk that “priming” may occur, whereby simply mentioning inequality could trigger an effect irrespective of the exact content of the treatment (Nair 2018; McCall et al. 2017).”
Eliciting preferences for redistribution across domains: A study on wealth, education, and health
Macchia, L., & Dan Ariely, C. (2021) · Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy · doi:10.1111/asap.12279 · Cited by 9
The Color of Disparity: Racialized Income Inequality and Support for Liberal Economic Policies
Newman, B. J., Reny, T. T., & Ooi, B.-S. (2021) · The Journal of Politics · doi:10.1086/718289 · Cited by 9
“Recent work finds that exposure to income inequality generates skepticism about economic opportunity (McCall et al. 2017) and support for redistributive policies (Franko 2016; Newman 2020; Sands and de Kadt 2020).”
BackgroundConstructs, Tape Measures, and Mercury
Boykin, C. M. (2022) · Perspectives on Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/17456916221098078 · Cited by 9
“The lasting histories of housing segregation, school segregation, economic inequality, and other social disparities that have been the direct result of deliberate policy choices that have affected marginalized Black people and other minorities inform the differential pull the force field has on our differentiated raci…”
BackgroundEconomic Inequality, the Working Poor, and Belief in the American Dream
Newman, B. J. (2022) · Public Opinion Quarterly · doi:10.1093/poq/nfac043 · Cited by 8
Roberts, B. J., Struwig, J., Edlund, J., & Lindh, A. (2023) · International Journal of Sociology · doi:10.1080/00207659.2023.2242212 · Cited by 10
Confronting Racism of Omission
Mijs, J. J. B., Huang, A. D. H., & Regan, W. (2023) · Du Bois Review Social Science Research on Race · doi:10.1017/s1742058x23000140 · Cited by 10
“For instance, informational interventions could take the form of educational curricular reform (cf. Donovan 2017; Stewart et al., 2012) or of nonpartisan NGO campaigning and government information provision (cf. McCall et al., 2017; Mijs and Hoy, 2021; Onyeador et al., 2021).”
Cultural Tariffing: Appropriation and the Right to Cross Cultural Boundaries
Oshotse, A., Berda, Y., & Goldberg, A. (2024) · American Sociological Review · doi:10.1177/00031224231225665 · Cited by 13
“Indeed, research shows that Americans vary in their perceptions about the magnitude of inequality and their beliefs about its fundamental causes (McCall et al. 2017).”
BackgroundClass Attitudes, Political Knowledge, and Support for Redistribution in an Era of Inequality
Macdonald, D. (2020) · Social Science Quarterly · doi:10.1111/ssqu.12767 · Cited by 11
Tanjitpiyanond, P., Jetten, J., Peters, K., Ashokkumar, A., Barry, O., Billet, M. I., Becker, M., Booth, R. W., Castro, D., Chinchilla, J., et al. (2022) · European Journal of Social Psychology · doi:10.1002/ejsp.2908 · Cited by 8
Measuring Perceptions and Preferences for MeritocracyPreprint
Castillo, J. C., Iturra-Sanhueza, J., Meneses, F. J., Maldonado, L., & Atria, J. (2021) · doi:10.31235/osf.io/mwk52 · Cited by 9
Rucker, J. M., Duker, A., & Richeson, J. A. (2024) · Frontiers in Social Psychology · doi:10.3389/frsps.2024.1332527 · Cited by 48
Self-citationKwon, R., & Pandian, R. K. (2024) · Social Science Research · doi:10.1016/j.ssresearch.2024.103056 · Cited by 7
Kirsten, F., & Biyase, M. (2024) · Sociological Inquiry · doi:10.1111/soin.12633 · Cited by 7
“Given the rising levels of inequality in the United States, the American dream has been used to explain how elites justify their privileges and serve as a coping mechanism for high inequality (Hochschild 1996; Kelly and Enns 2010; McCall et al. 2017).”
Zhu, L. (2025) · British Journal of Sociology of Education · doi:10.1080/01425692.2025.2521394 · Cited by 7
“…in which disadvantaged populations hold stronger meritocratic beliefs because of their palliative effects: hopes for better futures through personal effort (Morris et al. 2022), a sense of agency (McCall et al. 2017), and an inner psychological need to view the world as just (McCoy and Major 2007).”
Metadata
- Authors
- McCall, L., Burk, D., Laperrière, M., & Richeson, J. A.
- Affiliations
- The Graduate Center, CUNY (US)
- Northwestern University (US)
- Venue
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- Publisher
- National Academy of Sciences
- Published
- 2017-08-22
- Volume
- 114
- Issue
- 36
- Pages
- 9593-9598
- ISSN
- 0027-8424 (ISSN-L)
- 1091-6490
- PMC
- PMC5594671
- OpenAlex
- W2747618620
- Cited by
- 226
- References
- 46
- Citations by year
- 2026: 22 · 2025: 32 · 2024: 34 · 2023: 27 · 2022: 29 · 2021: 32 · 2020: 22 · 2019: 19 · 2018: 9
- FWCI
- 35.02
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Russell Sage Foundation (83-13-05)
- National Science Foundation (TESS)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Intergenerational and Educational Inequality Studies
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Income, Poverty, and Inequality
- Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Social Policy and Reform Studies
- Keywords
- economic inequality, structural inequality, individual effort, policy support, inequality reduction, public skepticism, information exposure, social mobility, United States
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Humans, Income, Politics, Public Policy, Surveys and Questionnaires, Socioeconomic Factors, United States, Models, Economic
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