Subjectivity and the Economic Inequality Conundrum: Considering the American Case

Abstract

This research takes as its predicate the contradiction between growing survey evidence that Al11ericans are aware of, and bothered bYJ increasing economic inequalityJ on the one handJand popular support at the ballot box for policies and politicians who exacerbate that inequalityJ on the other. Polls show lopsided nlajorities voicing discontent at the fact that the wealthiest1% ofu.s. households now accountsfor nlore than one- fifth of the total annual national inCOl11e. No matter what distributional l11etric is utilizedJone bottonl-line fact is beyond dispute: over the past 30 yearsJthe (velY) rich havegotten richer-atrates unprecedentedsince the Gilded Age-while l11edian household inC011le has relnained stagnantsince the 1970s and actuallyfallen since the 2008financial crisis. While survey data have steadily grown to docll1nent the 111ass publicJs dissatisfaction with this state ofaffairsJfederal and state electoral outcolnes (in 2010 and thereafter)J along with fiscal policynlaking traceable to such cases of collective choiceJreveal a different picture. Ifl11ajorities ofAl11erican voters recognize and detest the dil11ensions of curnulative econ0111ic inequalityJ why does this not translate into perceptible policy-driven behavior at the ballot box? In this research we report a pair of Q studies tha~ we argueJ can contribute to a fteshened nlethodological perspective on this conundrum. When the issue ofecononlic inequality is investigatedfrort} an intensiveJ Q-nlethodological standpoint that abandons the constricting logic and dictates of the large-sal11ple surveYJ what we find is a rnore c0111pelling yet conlplex and al11bivalent understanding ofinequality than has heretofore el11erged ftoln large-sanlple surveys seeking to calibrate public senti/llent toward econOl11ic opportunitYJ fairness and inequality in contenlporary Arner;ca. A concluding discussion underscores the inlplications of these findings-and the lnethodological alteration underpinning thenl-for Ifreal-worldJJ pOliCyl11aking andfor public opinion research addressing heightenedinequality in the Anlerican econorny.