Race/Ethnicity and Beliefs about Wealth and Poverty^*

Abstract

Objective. Lay explanations for “wealth” have been neglected in research on beliefs about social stratification. This study compares the nature and determinants of beliefs about the causes of both wealth and poverty, with special focus on race/ethnic differences.Methods. Using survey data collected from Los Angeles County residents in 2000, descriptive and multivariate procedures are used to analyze “individualistic” and “structuralist” beliefs about wealth and poverty. In addition, one “fatalistic” belief, asking about the role of “God's will” in shaping wealth and poverty, is examined. Analyses test (1) whether race/ethnicity and other social and political characteristics variables shape these stratification beliefs, and (2) whether African Americans, Latinos, and whites differ in the determinants of beliefs about wealth and poverty.Results. Respondents favor individualistic over structuralist reasons for wealth, but favor structuralist over individualistic beliefs in explaining poverty. Fatalistic beliefs are least popular. On beliefs about wealth, African Americans, Latinos, and whites show similar levels of support for individualistic explanations; however, the race/ethnic minorities are both more structuralist than whites on this issue. On beliefs about poverty, the race/ethnic minorities are simultaneously more structuralist and more individualistic than are whites. Social‐class identification and self‐reported conservatism both significantly impact beliefs about wealth and poverty, and do so differently across race/ethnic lines.Conclusions. Findings support the separate treatment and examination of beliefs about wealth and poverty, and reinforce recent calls for greater attention to “nonwhites” in studies of sociopolitical attitudes.

Conservative Ideology, Economic Conservatism, and Causal Attributions for Poverty and Wealth

“…However participants endorsed individualistic more than structuralistic causal attributions in the case of wealth (a positive event), and vice-versa in the case of poverty (a negative event). These outcomes are consistent with Hunt's (2004) findings and also support the argument that, basically, Western society are perceived to be open societies where initiative and talent allow social mobility towards the "top". Additionally, perceiving economic success or failure as both an individual and socio-structural issue is not contradictory.…”

“…wealth, while external ones are considered more important when explaining poverty (see also Hunt 2004).…”

“…Males scored higher on internal explanations than females (for example, Furnham and Bond 1986;Hunt 2004); younger and better educated people were generally less likely to explain wealth in terms of individual ability and effort (for example, Forgas et al 1982); a lower income level decreased the support for individualistic explanations Hunt 2004).…”

Differences in Perceived Causes of Poverty between First and Third Year Economics Students in a Higher Education Institution

“…On the other hand, the Bartlett's test of sphericity revealed levels significant at p = .000, which is much lower than the .05 minimum requirement. As found in other studies (Davids, 2010;Shek, 2004;Hunt, 2004), the factor loadings for the first and third year students extracted three factors. For first year students, factor 1 has an initial eigenvalue of 3.481, which explains 29.007% of total variance, while factor 2 has an initial eigenvalue of 2.091, which explains 17.425% of total variance, and factor 3 has an initial eigenvalue of 1.547, which explains 12.891% of total variance.…”

Financial Wellbeing of Asian Americans

“…Also adding to the scarcity of research on Asian Americans in the United States may be the lack of the passion of academia for investigating the financial CHAPTER 18 4 wellbeing of Asian Americans due to the small population of this group. There is evidence in the literature that Asian Americans have been ignored or combined with other race/ethnicity groups (e.g., Getter, 2006;Han, 2004;Hunt, 2004;Olney, 1998).…”