“Minding the gap”: Social psychological insights for strengthening interclass relations and advancing economic justice.

Abstract

Heeding the call to "mind the gap," we examine three growing areas of social psychological inquiry with implications for strengthening interclass relations and advancing economic justice. First, we consider how scarcity affects decision making and the potential of findings in this area to challenge classist stereotypes and attributions. Next, we turn to the "blindness" and narcissism of class privilege, illuminating how entitlement undermines interclass relations and the need for effective interventions. Finally, we examine the role of beliefs about class permeability, particularly the overestimation of economic mobility, in legitimizing class inequalities. Obstacles and opportunities for reducing class divisions are discussed, and to encourage the next wave of research in these areas, we identify directions for further investigation. What is the significance of this article for the general public?Poverty and rising economic inequality are among the greatest challenges of our time. We examine how research on the effects of scarcity on decision making, class privilege, and beliefs about economic mobility can be leveraged to strengthen interclass relations and advance economic justice.

Physiological stress responses to inequality across income groups in a virtual society

“…Stable inequality caused physiological responses, characteristic of increased stress in our low‐income group, when using increasing inequality as a reference group. This reflects previous epidemiological research that highlighted the negative effect of inequality on low‐income groups (Bjornskov et al., 2013; Mani et al., 2013; Ryan et al., 2018).…”

A belief in socioeconomic mobility promotes the development of academically motivating identities among low-socioeconomic status youth

“…The present findings extend this discussion by suggesting, as depicted in Figure 1, that two previously identified contributors-low-SES youth's mobility beliefs These findings may help integrate the growing body of research on the motivational implications of mobility beliefs. Specifically, scholars have noted that a belief in mobility has seemingly contradictory effects (see Ryan et al, 2018), with some studies finding that holding such beliefs is beneficial (e.g., for academic intentions and outcomes among low-SES students;…”

“…Indeed, a wealth of research has shown that people's beliefs about mobility have a number of important motivational implications. Most notably, when people believe that mobility is possible, they are more likely to trust, internalize, and ultimately act in ways consistent with elements of the prevailing social systems in their society (e.g., Alesina, Stantcheva, & Teso, 2018;for review, see Ryan, Singh, Hentschke, & Bullock, 2018). For example, people who were experimentally led to believe that mobility was more (versus less) attainable in their society were more likely to both trust prevailing societal messages about the importance of hard work and self-reliance for future success (Day & Fiske, 2017) and to frame their own lives in terms of that notion, such as perceiving their own economic station as a product of effort versus external factors (Shariff, Wiwad, & Aknin, 2016).…”

Commentary on translational impact: Psychologically wise policies targeting inequality require acknowledgement of scarcity mindsets, mobility beliefs, and class privilege justifications.

“…High and rising economic inequality has prompted concerns about the consequences for opportunity and mobility for those from less advantaged backgrounds. Fittingly, Ryan, Singh, Hentschke, and Bullock (2018) provide a timely review of research on and the implications of three relevant psychological phenomena: (a) how the experience of scarcity affects decision-making and how (b) the belief in upward mobility and (c) the justification of class privilege help legitimize and maintain economic inequality. I contend that these phenomena are critical to the development of psychologically wise policies targeting inequality-policies that acknowledge and address specific psychological processes that are known to help sustain and perpetuate inequality.…”

“…Furthermore, policy decisions regarding social safety net programs must be wise to people’s tendencies to overestimate upward mobility and legitimize class privilege. As Ryan and colleagues (2018) discuss, Americans frequently overestimate the extent to which upward mobility is attainable through hard work in their country (Davidai & Gilovich, 2015; Kraus & Tan, 2015), which promotes the mindset that both wealth and poverty are deserved and thus that policies like taxation and redistribution are unfair (Alesina, Stantcheva, & Teso, 2018; Day & Fiske, 2017; Shariff, Wiwad, & Aknin, 2016). This is critical, because many policy initiatives in recent decades have weaponized these misperceptions to justify cutting or restricting access to safety net programs (Sethi, 2010).…”