Poverty Prefers Company

• In three web-based experiments, we show that both actual poverty and experimentally induced (imagined) poverty create a preference for greater inequality. Study 1, a cross-national comparison between Americans and Swedes, showed that respondents who were actually poor and those who were experimentally induced to imagine that they were poor tended to express a heightened preference for greater inequality, and for a higher proportion of poor citizens. Study 2 replicated the effects using different procedures. Study 3 showed that imagining oneself being poor increases preferences for a greater proportion of poor people, but imagining oneself being rich does not increase preferences for a greater proportion of rich people. This poverty prefers company effect might affect support for policies aiming at reducing the number of poor people.

Ämnesord

Social Sciences  (hsv)

Samhällsvetenskap  (hsv)

Social Sciences  (hsv)

Other Social Sciences  (hsv)

Social Sciences Interdisciplinary  (hsv)

Samhällsvetenskap  (hsv)

Annan samhällsvetenskap  (hsv)

Tvärvetenskapliga studier  (hsv)

Natural Sciences  (hsv)

Mathematics  (hsv)

Other Mathematics  (hsv)

Naturvetenskap  (hsv)

Matematik  (hsv)

Annan matematik  (hsv)

Mathematics/Applied Mathematics  (mdh)

matematik/tillämpad matematik  (mdh)

Nyckelord

income

inequality

ostraphobia

poverty