Social differences are ubiquitous. Differences in resources, standing and power across individuals and groups of individuals pervade every society, even create the phenotype and dynamics of societies in the first place. Yet social differences are not simply accepted. While the concrete content, use and notion of justice norms differs around the world, justice norms itself are universal among humans and monitor the acceptability of social conditions. The Arab Spring in 2010 and the Occupy Wall Street movement in 2011 are prominent examples of what can follow if social conditions are no longer accepted and what forces perceived injustice can unleash. Perception of unjust social differences divides groups within societies and can ultimately threaten social peace and stability of governments. It is therefore of utmost political interest to understand why social differences are accepted and when they are not.
Accordingly empirical research about social differences has gained momentum over the past decades. Using the concept of Social Inequality’ research focused on where and how much of inequality exists and which groups have which attitudes towards inequality. The causal question though, why social differences are perceived that way, was given a minor role. Hadler (2005) was first to ask explicitly why different income ratios are accepted, eliciting the importance of personal income, of feeling under-rewarded and of meritocratic and functionalistic ideologies as legitimization. Newer research gives more extensive accounts about inequality and its acceptance (Lang, 2017) and examines further possible causal factors for accepting inequality like perceived upwards mobility, future time perspectives, mind-sets etc.
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- Marco Hauptmann (Author), 2020, The Effect of Income on Acceptance of Social Difference. The Importance of Subjective Factors, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/1597582
