False Consciousness or Class Awareness? Local Income Inequality, Personal Economic Position, and Belief in American Meritocracy
False Consciousness or Class Awareness
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6231014 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Benjamin J Newman (0000-0001-7055-8585, University of Connecticut), Christian D Johnston (0000-0001-6704-7629, Duke University), Christopher D Johnston (Duke University), Patrick L Lown (Stony Brook University) |
| Year | 2015 |
| Volume | 59 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 326-340 |
| Publication date | 2015-02-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | American Journal of Political Science (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0092-5853 • E-ISSN: 1540-5907 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/ajps.12153 |
| OpenAlex | W2132700370 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 140 |
| References cited | 64 |
Existing research analyzes the effects of cross-national and temporal variation in income inequality on public opinion; however, research has failed to explore the impact of variation in inequality across citizens? local residential context. This article analyzes the impact of local inequality on citizens? belief in a core facet of the American ethos?meritocracy. We advance conditional effects hypotheses that collectively argue that the effect of residing in a high-inequality context will be moderated by individual income. Utilizing national survey data, we demonstrate that residing in more unequal counties heightens rejection of meritocracy among low-income residents and bolsters adherence among high-income residents. In relatively equal counties, we find no significant differences between high- and low-income citizens. We conclude by discussing the implications of class-based polarization found in response to local inequality with respect to current debates over the consequences of income inequality for American democracy
Context (archaeology · Democracy · Demographic economics · Economic inequality · Economics · Geography · Income inequality metrics · Inequality · Meritocracy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · Law · Social and Cultural Dynamics · Social Capital and Networks
Liberal Nationalism and Its Critics
How Economic Inequality Fuels the Rise and Persistence of the Yellow Vest Movement
The psychological consequences of income inequality
A social identity analysis of responses to economic inequality
Exposure to inequality affects support for redistribution
High economic inequality leads higher-income individuals to be less generous
Herd Invisibility
The Paradox of Inequality
Inequality is a problem of inference
Intergenerational Mobility and Support for Redistribution
Inequality, Decisions, and Altruism
How Meritocracy is Defined Today
Perceived Fairness and Life Satisfaction
Communities Without Credit
Social hierarchies and meritocracy
Revisiting the old debate
Perception of economic inequality weakens Americans’ beliefs in both upward and downward socioeconomic mobility
Testing the status‐legitimacy hypothesis
Intergenerational transmission of socio‐economic status
Welfare regime divergence and Varieties of Capitalism
Perceptions of Increasing Economic Inequality Are Associated with Psychological Distress in East Asia
Researching multiple publics through latent profile analysis
I ain’t no fortunate one
Searching forHomo Economicus
Intergenerational Mobility and Preferences for Redistribution
Bridges and Walls
The comparative political economy of inequality
Education, Skills, and Intergenerational Inequality in Status Attainment
Lowering the Top and Raising the Bottom
Eppur si Muove. Social Mobility, Inequality, and Political Trust in Latin America
The Dark Side of Meritocratic Beliefs
Regional income inequality
Temporal change in inequality perceptions and effects on political attitudes
Social Class, Meritocracy, and the Geography of the “American Dream”
Inequality Is a Problem of Inference
Perceptions of meritocracy
Community contexts, socioeconomic status, and meritocratic beliefs and perceptions in China
Who sees an hourglass? Assessing citizens’ perception of local economic inequality
Economic inequality and belief in meritocracy in the United States
Agentic selves, agentic stories
Anyone, but not Everyone
Disability at the intersections
A false divide? Providing information about inequality aligns preferences for redistribution between right- and left-wing voters
Local Economic Segregation and Opinions about Income Integration in Schools
Perceived income inequality, perceived unfairness and subjective social status in Europe
Between the ladder and the mirror
Selection Neglect and Political Beliefs
Looking up or down on the social ladder
Income inequality in local economies
Economic segregation and public support for redistribution
Viewing equality as a loss
Cumulative Frustrations and the Erosion of Social Trust before the Finnish Civil War
Status allocation from elementary allocation principles
Merit and blame in unequal societies
Increasingly polarized? Inequality, prosperity, and perceived socioeconomic conflict in advanced economies (1987–2019)
How did I get here? Individual differences in perceived retrospective personality change
Multidimensionality in merit attitudes
The Stickiness of Meritocratic Beliefs From Adolescence to Adulthood in Singapore
Quality of local government and social trust in European cities
Labor Unions and Support for Redistribution in an Era of Inequality
Educational Attainment Has a Causal Effect on Economic, But Not Social Ideology
Social Limits to Spending
Trends in Political Science Research
How Migrating Overseas Shapes Political Preferences
A Multidimensional Approach for Measuring Meritocratic Beliefs
Determinants of economic attitudes in a post-communist society
Merit in Meritocracy
Personal harm from the Covid-19 pandemic predicts advocacy for equality
Inequality in the minimal group paradigm
Why do Americans believe in economic mobility? Economic inequality, external attributions of wealth and poverty, and the belief in economic mobility
Perceiving economic inequality in everyday life decreases tolerance to inequality
Socio‐political fracturing
The paradox of inequality that isn’t
Does Inequality Blur Class Lines? Meritocratic Attitudes in Comparative Perspective
Income Inequality and Ideological Positions in the U.S. Congress
Does belief in meritocracy increase with inequality? A reconsideration for European countries
Economic Inequality and U.S. Public Policy Mood Across Space and Time
Adolescent Exposure to Economic Inequality and Belief in the ‘American Dream’ on Entering Adulthood
Seeing Like a Company or a Customer
Political Context, Government Redistribution, and the Public’s Response to Growing Economic Inequality
A Case Study of Descriptive Representation
Nationally poor, locally rich
Electoral responses to economic crises
Meritocracy as Seen by Young People Living in Poverty in Quebec, Canada
Effects of group membership on adults' essentialism of ethnicity and SES
The relevance of meritocratic beliefs for redistributive preferences increases with income
Unequal Grounds
Wanting What Is Fair
Inequality Growth and Economic Policy Liberalism
Economic Inequality and Class Consciousness
Why Partisans Do Not Sort
Redistributive Politics under Spatial Inequality
Understanding Public Perceptions of Growing Economic Inequality
Home Ownership, House Prices, and Belief in Meritocracy
Income Inequality, Social Mobility, and Electoral Participation in the US Counties
Economic Inequality and Public Support for Organized Labor
Trust in Government and the American Public’s Responsiveness to Rising Inequality
Not a real meritocracy? How conspiracy beliefs reduce perceived distributive justice
Status Politics and Rural Consciousness
Durable Democracy? Economic Inequality and Democratic Accountability in the New Gilded Age
What's fair?
Injury to Insult
The psychology of legitimacy
Political Persuasion and Attitude Change
Why Americans Hate Welfare
Oppositional Consciousness
The Belief in a Just World
Inequality and happiness
The Role of Self-Interest in Social and Political Attitudes
Fair Market Ideology
Social Mobility and Redistributive Politics
Belief in a Just World and Redistributive Politics
The Oxford Handbook of Political Psychology
American Politics
An economic theory of democracy
Why Doesn't the US Have a European-Style Welfare System?
Social Mobility and the Demand for Redistribution
Social preferences, self-interest, and the demand for redistribution
Preferences for redistribution in the land of opportunities
Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology
Why is there no Socialism in the United States
The American Ethos
Relative deprivation theory
Antecedents and Consequences of System-Justifying Ideologies
Affluence and Influence
Blame or Fate, Individual or Social
Public support for redistribution
Race, Conceptions of Crime and Justice, and Support for the Death Penalty
Race/Ethnicity and Beliefs about Wealth and Poverty
Injury to Insult
Why Doesn't the United States Have a European-Style Welfare State
Beliefs about Inequality
Contextualizing Personal Experience
Race Differences in Abortion Attitudes
Is It Really Racism
A Decade of System Justification Theory
When Self‐Interest Matters
The Politics of Inequality in the Face of Financial Crisis
Rising Inequality and the Politics of Redistribution in Affluent Countries
Workers, worries and welfare states
Risks and Redistribution
Economic Self-Interest and Political Behavior
Inequality and the Dynamics of Public Opinion
Economic Discontent and Political Behavior
Economic Insecurity and the Globalization of Production
Exploring the Racial Divide
From Life Space to Polling Place
United We Stand? African Americans, Self-Interest, and Immigration Reform
Reconsidering the Environmental Determinants of White Racial Attitudes
The Humanitarian Foundation of Public Support for Social Welfare
The role of stereotyping in system-justification and the production of false consciousness
Explaining Social Policy Preferences
Why is there no Socialism in the United States
Self-serving biases in the attribution of causality
Inequality, public opinion and redistribution
Self-Interest vs. Symbolic Politics in Policy Attitudes and Presidential Voting
Predisposing Factors and Situational Triggers
Inequality, Social Insurance, and Redistribution
The Determinants of Public Attitudes toward the Welfare State
What Makes People Support Public Responsibility for Welfare Provision
Perceptions of Poverty and Wealth in Western and Post-Communist Countries
| Unique citing works | 140 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 12,73 |
| Citation span | 2015 - 2026 (12) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | Yes |
| Citation types | Neutral: 140 |