Abstract
Research on perceptions of economic inequality focuses on estimations of the distribution of financial resources, such as perceived income gaps or wealth distribution. However, we argue that perceiving inequality is not limited to an economic idea but also includes other dimensions related to people’s daily life. We explored this idea by conducting an online survey (N = 601) in Colombia, where participants responded to an open-ended question regarding how they perceived economic inequality. We performed a content analysis of 1,624 responses to identify relevant topics and used network analysis tools to explore how such topics were interrelated. We found that perceived economic inequality is mainly represented by identifying social classes (e.g., the elites vs. the poor), intergroup relations based on discrimination and social exclusion, public spaces (e.g., beggars on streets, spatial segregation), and some dynamics about the distribution of economic resources and the quality of work (e.g., income inequality, precarious jobs). We discuss how different perceptions of economic inequality may frame how people understand and respond to inequality.
Highlights
Despite the significant increase of economic inequality all over the world, people usually overlooked the income gaps between the haves and the have-nots (Norton and Ariely, 2011; Kiatpongsan and Norton, 2014)
We propose that perceived economic inequality covers a broad variety of dimensions of individuals’ daily life rather than only the estimation, belief, or judgment about how economic resources are distributed
We present a frequency analysis of the main contents observed in our data corpus, which enabled us to identify common and specific topics used when people perceive economic inequality
Summary
Despite the significant increase of economic inequality all over the world, people usually overlooked the income gaps between the haves and the have-nots (Norton and Ariely, 2011; Kiatpongsan and Norton, 2014). The lack of accuracy with which people perceive economic disparities is usually associated with lack of information about how economic resources are distributed in society, or even with poor awareness or concern about inequality (Kelley and Evans, 1993; Castillo, 2012). From this perspective, perceived economic inequality is constrained to how individuals estimate income disparities. We intended to identify the topics used by individuals when they perceive economic inequality Such everyday perceptions have relevant implications on how people understand inequality and respond to it
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