May 3, 2017
Elizabeth Suhay (American University)
Paper with Marko Klašnja (Georgetown University) and Gonzalo Rivero (Westat) The small percentage of people who sit atop the economic ladder in the United States control more resources than at any time in recent history and exhibit grossly disproportional political power. Yet, we know relatively little about their economic and political ideologies. In this study, we ask: what do affluent individuals believe is the cause of economic inequality, and are such factual beliefs related to their redistributive preferences? Some previous research suggests affluent individuals are more likely than others to endorse explanations for inequality that justify the status quo and, hence, government inaction – for example, arguing that inequality is located within the person (“blaming” individuals) as opposed to within the environment (“blaming” society). Americans regardless of class gravitate toward dispositional, rather than contextual, explanations for inequality. To date, no research has been able to resolve this question because the affluent represent a small and “hard to reach” population. In this paper, we examine data from an original online survey in which approximately half of respondents were drawn from the top 5% of the income/wealth distribution. We find that, on the one hand, the vast majority of Americans indeed believe their economic system to be largely meritocratic, stating that “hard work” and “intelligence” are most important to getting ahead in life. On the other hand, the affluent – particularly the top 1% – are somewhat more likely than others to endorse such beliefs and much more likely than others to say such characteristics are rooted in “nature” (i.e. people’s genes) as opposed to “nurture.” Mediation analyses suggest these genetic beliefs in particular are associated with greater economic conservatism among the affluent.