The Relationship Between Income Inequality and the Palliative Function of Meritocracy Belief: The Micro- and the Macro-Levels Both Count.

Zsolt Péter Szabó,Márton Hadarics,Anna Kende

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.709080

Abstract

In the current paper, we report the analysis of the relationship between meritocracy belief and subjective well-being using two large international databases, the European Social Survey Program (N = 44,387) and the European Values Study Program (N = 51,752), involving data gathered from 36 countries in total. We investigated whether low status individuals are more likely to psychologically benefit from endorsing meritocratic beliefs, and the same benefits are more pronounced in more unequal societies. Since meritocracy belief can function as a justification for income differences, we assumed that the harsher the objective reality is, the higher level of subjective well-being can be maintained by justifying this harsh reality. Therefore, we hypothesized that the palliative function of meritocracy belief is stronger for both low social status (low income) individuals, and for those living in an unequal social environment (in countries with larger income differences). Our multilevel models showed a positive relationship between meritocracy belief and subjective well-being, which relationship was moderated by both individual-level income status and country-level income differences in both studies. Based on these results, we concluded that the emotional payoff of justifying income inequalities is larger if one is more strongly affected by these inequalities.

Highlights

According to Oxfam International (2016)—an international charity organization—the richest 1% of the world owns more material resources than the bottom 99%
The Bayesian multilevel model estimations terminated normally with a successful convergence, what is indicated by the fact that the Proportional Scale Reduction (PSR) factor values fell below 1.05 during the first 100 iterations and remained there along the 400,000 iterations in the case of both models
We evaluated the cross-level interaction models based on their deviance information criterion (DIC) value against a pair of models without the interaction terms, and another pair of empty models without any predictors

Summary

Introduction

According to Oxfam International (2016)—an international charity organization—the richest 1% of the world owns more material resources than the bottom 99%. Acceptance of ideological beliefs that frame inequality as legitimate can temporarily protect one’s subjective well-being and serve as a buffer against negative emotions that may stem from the realization of both unearned privileges on the top of the social hierarchy and structural obstacles to equal opportunities at the bottom of the hierarchy (Jost and Hunyady, 2003). This buffer function might depend on the actual extent of inequalities and one’s own position within the hierarchy (e.g., Napier and Jost, 2008; Osborne and Sibley, 2013; Sengupta et al, 2017), we know little about the differences in the palliative effects within and across social contexts with different degrees of inequality. We test how societal level of income inequalities and personal income status influence this relationship

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion