Why do the poor oppose income redistribution? An empirical test on the impacts of nationalism and fatalism

Abstract

We study the poor’s psychological motivations to oppose income redistribution, relying on social identity and system justification theories. We find that national identification reduces differences between the poor and the rich in terms of attitudes toward income redistribution and self-esteem, by discouraging the poor from supporting redistribution but encouraging them to acquire greater self-esteem. Next, fatalism reduces and increases differences between the poor and the rich in terms of attitudes toward income redistribution and self-esteem, respectively. Yet, a closer look reveals that the responding patterns of the poor and the rich to fatalism are consistent only with the mechanism behind the prediction that concerns self-esteem. That is, fatalism increases support for income redistribution in both groups, whereas it reduces self-esteem only among the poor.