Why income inequality is dissatisfying—perceptions of social status and the inequality-satisfaction link in Europe

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• dc.contributor.author Schneider, Simone M.
• dc.date.accessioned 2024-05-07T06:51:55Z
• dc.date.available 2024-05-07T06:51:55Z
• dc.date.issued 2019
• dc.description Includes supplementary materials for the online appendix.
• dc.description.abstract This study proposes subjective social status—a person’s perception of his/her standing in the social hierarchy—is an important psychological mechanism driving the inequality-satisfaction link. Building on sociological and social-psychological research, it argues (i) the contextual effect of income inequality on subjective well-being is mediated by social status perceptions, and (ii) income inequality moderates the relationship between subjective social status and well-being. The empirical analysis is based on data from the 2012/2013 European Social Survey. Applying multi-level modelling techniques, the study finds income inequality lowers the self-perception of social status and, in turn, the overall well-being of individuals (the mediation argument). It also finds that income inequality increases the importance of subjective social status to life satisfaction (the moderation argument). The results are limited to the European context and should encourage researchers to test the hypotheses in other geographic regions and to dig deeper into the underlying mechanisms explaining if and why income inequality matters to the well-being of individuals.
• dc.description.sponsorship In its early stage, the author received financial support from the Sociology Department, Trinity College Dublin, and the NORFACE Welfare State Futures funded research project ‘The Paradox of Health State Futures’ (HEALTHDOX; EC ERA-Net Plus funding, grant agreement number 618106, File Number 462–14–070). The author certifies that she has NO affiliations with or involvement in any organization or entity with any financial or non-financial interest in the subject matter or materials discussed in this manuscript.
• dc.format.mimetype application/pdf
• dc.identifier.citation Schneider SM. Why income inequality is dissatisfying—perceptions of social status and the inequality-satisfaction link in Europe. European Sociological Review. 2019 Jun 1;35(3):409-30. DOI: 10.1093/esr/jcz003
• dc.identifier.doi http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/esr/jcz003
• dc.identifier.issn 0266-7215
• dc.identifier.uri http://hdl.handle.net/10230/60032
• dc.language.iso eng
• dc.publisher Oxford University Press
• dc.relation.ispartof European Sociological Review. 2019 Jun 1;35(3):409-30
• dc.relation.projectID info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/FP7/618106
• dc.rights © The Author(s) 2019. Published by Oxford University Press. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
• dc.rights.accessRights info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
• dc.rights.uri http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• dc.subject.other Desigualtat social
• dc.subject.other Europa -- Condicions socials
• dc.subject.other Qualitat de vida
• dc.title Why income inequality is dissatisfying—perceptions of social status and the inequality-satisfaction link in Europe
• dc.type info:eu-repo/semantics/article
• dc.type.version info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion