The Great Divider: Educational Attainment, Meritocratic Beliefs, and Redistributive Attitudes in the United States

• In Event: Student Forum Roundtables Session
  In Refereed Roundtable (90 minute): Roundtable 18: Educational Access and Inequality

Abstract

Despite extensive research linking education to social outcomes, its influence on redistributive attitudes remains inconclusive. This study adjudicates between the structural perspective, which posits that schooling unveils systemic barriers and fosters redistributive support, and the meritocratic view, which argues that education legitimizes unequal outcomes and reinforces opposition to government intervention. Using forty years of pooled data from the General Social Survey (1984–2024, N = 14,899), I test whether the relationship between educational attainment and redistributive preferences is contingent upon individuals’ meritocratic beliefs.

Results reveal no robust main effect of education, challenging the assumption that schooling is uniformly associated with higher or lower redistributive support. Instead, the findings corroborate an interaction model where education acts as a divider that amplifies diverging views: among those who attribute success to “luck,” education increases support for redistribution; among those who credit “hard work,” it is associated with stronger opposition.

These findings suggest that education does not produce a singular ideological outcome; rather, its association with redistributive preferences is conditioned on meritocratic beliefs. These findings carry significant policy and pedagogical implications. As affirmative action and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs retreat, the conflict over social equity is now increasingly concentrated among the highly educated. To bridge these divides, policymakers and educators must rethink how to help students understand the interplay between individual merit and structural inequality and engage across differences.

Author

• Grant Mu, Carmel High School