Beliefs about Income Inequality in the United States: A Consistent ‘Black Pessimism'?

• In Event: 528 - Regular Session. The Limits of Intergenerational Mobility and the Power of Social Reproduction

Abstract

While the income inequality in the United States is indisputable, what Americans believe about this inequality is less understood. As income inequality is a current social problem, which if anything will continue to increase rather than decrease, comprehending differences in Americans’ beliefs about inequality is an important issue. Furthermore, recent protests, such as the Occupy Wall Street movement, suggest that Americans are increasingly upset about the economic differences in the country.
This research explores the influences of income, race, and the intersection of income and race, on beliefs about income inequality in the United States, as well as whether these relationships have changed over time, utilizing data from the General Social Survey (GSS). Ordinal logistic regression is used to analyze beliefs about income inequality which is a more complex and preferable method than the more commonly used ordinary least squares regression. Previous research suggests that disadvantaged groups, including lower-income individuals and blacks, are more critical of income inequality and that this dissatisfaction amongst blacks persists despite increased income. Additionally, past research has linked changes in Americans’ ideology over time to social, economic, and political issues.
Preliminary multivariate results suggest a significant interaction between income and race in that higher-income blacks are more likely than lower-income whites to agree that differences in income are too large. Surprisingly, the interactions of income and year and of race and year are both insignificant suggesting that the influence of both income and race on beliefs about income inequality did not significantly change across three decades.

Author

• Rachel Wildfeuer, Temple University