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Economic inequality enhances inferences that the normative climate is individualistic and competitive
Author(s) -
SánchezRodríguez Ángel,
Willis Guillermo B.,
Jetten Jolanda,
RodríguezBailón Rosa
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
european journal of social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.609
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1099-0992
pISSN - 0046-2772
DOI - 10.1002/ejsp.2557
Subject(s) - individualism , normative , inequality , social inequality , context (archaeology) , social psychology , perception , economic inequality , competition (biology) , psychology , positive economics , economics , political science , geography , ecology , mathematical analysis , mathematics , law , market economy , archaeology , neuroscience , biology
Abstract In addition to the negative effects of economic inequality on a range of health and social outcomes, we propose that inequality should also affect how people perceive the broader normative climate in society. We predicted that people living in a more unequal (vs. equal) society are more likely to appraise the social context as one where individualism determines people's behavior. We tested this idea in three experiments by manipulating the degree of economic inequality in a fictional society. We showed that, compared to the low‐inequality condition, participants in the high‐inequality condition were more likely to project individualistic norms onto society. Furthermore, Experiments 2 and 3 showed that in the high‐ (vs. low‐) economic‐inequality condition, participants inferred more competition and less cooperation between people. Our results are discussed in light of the importance of the perception of a broader normative climate to explain the consequences of economic inequality.