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Exposure to rising inequality shapes Americans' opportunity beliefs and policy support
Open accessAbstract
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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Citations
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“С другой сто - роны, оценки ни по одной из данных задач не вносят независимого значимого вклада в поддержку инициатив, направленных на снижение уровня неравен - ства в обществе, что противоречит полученным ранее результатам (McCall et al., 2017; Kuhn, 2019).”
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“At a time when income inequality is rising globally (Chancel et al., 2022), declining public concern for income inequality is alarming because it reduces the support for redistribution (McCall et al., 2017) and affects the ability of governments to expand social protection.”
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“Most similar to our approach are experiments by McCall et al. (2017) and Trump (2017), who randomise the provision of information about increasing levels of inequality (McCall) or unequal pay between occupations (Trump), to investigate effects on attitudes towards economic inequality.”
Xiong, Z., & Li, Z. (2026) · Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.appdev.2026.101927
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“…to perceive the market economic outcome as a result of heightened structural unfairness, and therefore they are more skeptical about the existence of equality of economic opportunity and become more supportive for a higher level of tax progres-sivity (Alesina et al., 2018; McCall et al., 2017).”
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“Similarly, when economic inequality is seen as a structural barrier, individuals are more inclined to recognize its inherent unfairness and support policy reforms (McCall et al., 2017).”
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Self-citationChristensen, M. E. (2026) · Perspectives on Politics · doi:10.1017/s1537592726105854
Measuring Global Economic Inequality
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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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