The Effect of Momentary Changes of Individual Subjective Socioeconomic Status on Preferences for Redistributive Policies

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  • February 26, 2019
Creator
  • Mahony, Olivia
    • Affiliation: College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience
Abstract
  • Support for redistributive policies is often thought to be stable over time. However, the current research seeks to investigate whether situational influences could lead to changes in preferences for redistribution. Because economic self-interest is a predictor of policy preference, we were interested in investigating if subjective understandings of social standing could change support for redistributive policies. We manipulated individuals’ subjective SES and then tested how this influenced attitudes towards redistributive policies. We found that subjective SES did affect policy preferences; participants in the high subjective SES condition were less likely to support redistributive policies than participants in the low subjective SES condition. This suggests that perceived self-interest influences voting behaviors. Furthermore, our manipulation affected participants’ self-report of how conservative they are and attitudes towards social policy. Thus, voting behaviors are not as stable as previously believed. Rather, feeling relatively richer or poorer effects policy preference.
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  • In Copyright
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  • Funding: None
Advisor
  • Payne, B. Keith
Degree
  • Bachelor of Arts
Honors level
  • Honors
Degree granting institution
  • University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Extent
  • 30

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