This study examines inequality belief systems in the U.S. using data from the 2019 ISSP Social Inequality module, showing they form cohesive small-world networks centered on perceptions of inequality and support for redistribution. By applying network models and simulations, it demonstrates that anger strengthens and polarizes these systems, while changes in central attitudes trigger broader shifts across beliefs.

This paper introduces the concept of inequality belief systems as networks of perceptions, explanations, and attitudes. It uses U.S. and Dutch survey data to identify distinct systems that differ structurally and shape support for redistribution.

This paper examines people’s evaluation of distributive justice in Chile. The objective is to explore how individuals’ subjective social position affects their judgment of their own income and whether this judgment rests on a notion of merit.

This article constitutes the first application of the attitude network approach to peoples’ views on inequality. We adopt a network model in which nodes represent survey variables and edges their conditional associations. This allows us to conceptualize perceptions, beliefs, and judgments about inequality as a network of connected evaluative reactions.

A series of theories focused on self-interest have continuously established a negative link between people’s income and their support for the reduction of inequalities through redistribution. Despite this, the evidence is scarce and sometimes contradictory while its study in Latin America is almost non-existent. Using data from the LAPOP Survey between 2008 and 2018, a longitudinal dimension is considered for the first time in the measurement of Latin American redistributive preferences, using hybrid multilevel regression models.