Citizens’ Perceptions of Economic Distances and Preferences for Redistribution

• In Event: Class, Economic Inequality, & Public Opinion

Abstract

Does the electorate's perception of economic distances to different income groups affect their preference for redistribution? Despite a longstanding interest in the link between economic inequality and public resentment to escalating inequality, researchers are still debating whether citizens’ redistributive preferences are affected by inequality. While a number of studies find that the link between national economic inequality and preferences for redistribution is negligible, few studies to this date examine whether the same is evident for citizens' perception of economic distances and their redistribution preferences.

In this article, I put forth the argument that the perception of economic inequality shapes preferences for redistribution in different ways, depending on how inequality is structured, to whom the redistribution is considered and the economic context. Central to my argument is that the perceptions—not the reality—of inequality drives redistribution opinions. Additionally, in line with insights from the social affinity perspective, I suspect that the perception of the structure of the economic distribution matters. Hence, when the distance to the poor is perceived to be larger relative to the rich, subjects are induced to share the same interests as the affluent and thus oppose redistribution from the "rich". In contrast, when subjects perceive the distance to the poor as being smaller relative to the rich, they engage in other-oriented social affinity with the poor, which affect redistribution to the "poor" positively. Lastly, drawing on research within social psychology on social comparisons, I contend that the perception of the structure of national inequality must be distinguished from the inequality that is more proximate to the individual's everyday life. The reason is that thinking of more proximate individuals may induce a stronger sense of shared fate with the class to which the subject is made to feel closer. In other words, those who perceive a greater distance to the locally poor relative to the locally rich are more inclined to oppose redistribution than those who think in terms of the distance to economic groups on the national level. Likewise, the identification and solidarity with the poor will be strongest for those who perceive a skewed economic distribution within their local context.

I investigate the causal effect of perception of economic distance on support for redistribution using a representative survey experiment in the UK in which I experimentally manipulate perceptions of economic distances on the national and local level respectively. More specifically, I randomly manipulate respondents to think in terms of the economic distance towards those lower and higher on the national or local economic ladder. By comparing the effect of perceptions of distance, I, on the one hand, aspire to illuminate if perceptions of distance to the rich matters more for redistribution preferences than the perceived distance to the poor and, on the other hand, elucidate if these effects differ depending on the economic context. Lastly, I intend to include close-ended as well as open-ended questions, as the latter enables me to detect whether subjects themselves are capable of producing arguments that fit their redistribution preferences.

Author

• Matias Engdal Christensen, Aarhus University