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Greed, Envy, and Admiration: The Distinct Nature of Public Opinion about Redistribution from the Rich

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 July 2022

KRISTINA JESSEN HANSEN*
Affiliation:
Aalborg University, Denmark
*
Kristina Jessen Hansen, Assistant Professor, Department of Politics and Society, Aalborg University, Denmark, kjh@dps.aau.dk.
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Abstract

Research on public opinion about economic redistribution has made important progress by incorporating the psychological microfoundation that shapes support for redistribution to the poor. However, one piece is missing: the microfoundation shaping support for redistribution from the rich. I provide a novel theory about this facet of redistributive attitudes and how it is distinct. Observational data from three nationally representative samples in two different welfare systems and an experiment show that attitudes about taking from the rich are mainly driven by perceptions of their prosociality—whether they are greedy or generous. This contrasts with public opinion about giving to the poor that is mainly driven by perceptions of the efforts of poor people. Furthermore, while compassion shapes attitudes about giving to the poor, the emotions of admiration and envy shape attitudes about taking from the rich. These findings have important theoretical and empirical implications for public opinion about economic redistribution.

Information

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the American Political Science Association
Figure 0

Table 1. Overview of Data and Measures

Figure 1

Table 2. Overview of Manipulations in Experimental Conditions

Figure 2

Table 3. Perceived Effort and Prosociality of the Rich as Predictors of Opposition to Taxing the Rich

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Table 4. Perceived Effort and Prosociality of the Poor as Predictors of Support for Social Welfare

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Table 5. The Effects of Effort and Prosociality of the Rich on Opposition to Taking from the Rich: Sample 3

Figure 5

Figure 1. Perceptions of Rich and Poor People’s Efforts and Prosociality as Predictors of Attitudes about Economic RedistributionNote: The dots represent unstandardized beta coefficients. The vertical lines represent 95% confidence intervals. Panels to the left: higher values on the y-axis indicate opposition toward taxing the rich. Panels to the right: higher values on the y-axis indicate support for social welfare to the poor. The estimates are derived from Table 3 and Table 4.

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Table 6. The Effects of Effort and Prosociality of the Poor on Support for Social Welfare: Sample 3

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Table 7. Emotions toward the Rich as Predictors of Opposition to Taxing the Rich

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Table 8. Emotions toward the Poor as Predictors of Support for Social Welfare

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Figure 2. Effects of Effort Cues and Prosociality Cues on Attitudes about Economic Redistribution: Sample 3Note: The bars represent the differences in mean scores for the experimental conditions on attitudes about economic redistribution. The light gray bars represent the difference between the hardworking condition and the lazy condition [Effort–no effort]. The dark gray bars represent the difference between the generous condition and the greedy condition [Generous–greedy]. The significance tests are of the differences between the effects of effort cues and the effects of prosociality cues. The estimates are derived from Table 5 and Table 6.

Figure 10

Figure 3. Emotions toward Rich and Poor People as Predictors of Attitudes about Economic RedistributionNote: The dots represent unstandardized beta coefficients. The vertical lines represent 95% confidence intervals. Panels to the left: higher values on the y-axis indicate opposition toward taxing the rich. Panels to the right: higher values on the y-axis indicate support for social welfare to the poor. The estimates are derived from Table 7 and Table 8.

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