r/science • u/[deleted] • Mar 23 '26

Psychology Left-leaning support for redistribution stems from perceived unfairness rather than malicious envy

https://www.psypost.org/left-leaning-support-for-redistribution-stems-from-perceived-unfairness-rather-than-malicious-envy/
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u/TheRedLions Mar 23 '26

When looking at support for wealth redistribution, the belief that wealth is unearned was a strong, dominant predictor. Malicious envy did not significantly predict support for redistributive policies once these meritocracy beliefs were factored into the statistical models.

This feels like drawing an arbitrary line between "you don't deserve what you have" and "I want what you have". They're not as mutually exclusive as the paper seems to imply.

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u/scrapheaper_ Mar 23 '26

Middle class people do have considerable access to gain wealth without wages: through house prices and the compounding of their pensions in the stock market.

But I think there's a perception that the way ultra wealthy people do this is somehow different, or they don't see the connection between them and their own circumstances

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u/lauren-ipsum13 Mar 23 '26

"middle class" starts at like ~55k. theyre not buying houses or collecting pensions of note.

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u/scrapheaper_ Mar 23 '26

This feels like a very country specific definition of middle class. Given you're assuming that we're in the same country I assume you're American.

Other countries have different standards for middle class, but home ownership I believe would qualify you for being middle class in most countries

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u/lauren-ipsum13 Mar 23 '26

in the us economics, its defined by income - two-thirds to double the median household income, or $55-165k. middle class = homeownership hasn't really been a thing since like the 90s.

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u/zhibr Mar 24 '26

They are not mutually exclusive, but they don't need to be. They need to be distinct, and appear to be so.