Psychological research shows that social comparison of individuals with peers or others shapes attitude formation 1 , 2 . Opportunities for such comparisons have increased with global inequality 3 , 4 ; everyday experiences can make economic disparities more salient through signals of social class 5 , 6 . Here we show that, among individuals with a lower socioeconomic status, such local exposure to inequality drives support for the redistribution of wealth. We designed a placebo-controlled field experiment conducted in South African neighbourhoods in which individuals with a low socioeconomic status encountered real-world reminders of inequality through the randomized presence of a high-status car. Pedestrians were asked to sign a petition to increase taxes on wealthy individuals to help with the redistribution of wealth. We found an increase of eleven percentage points in the probability of signing the petition in the presence of inequality, when taking into account the experimental placebo effect. The placebo effect suppresses the probability that an individual signs the petition in general, which is consistent with evidence that upward social comparison reduces political efficacy 4 . Measures of economic inequality were constructed at the neighbourhood level and connected to a survey of individuals with a low socioeconomic status. We found that local exposure to inequality was positively associated with support for a tax on wealthy individuals to address economic disparities. Inequality seems to affect preferences for the redistribution of wealth through local exposure. However, our results indicate that inequality may also suppress participation; the political implications of our findings at regional or country-wide scales therefore remain uncertain. Local exposure to inequality in low-income areas is positively associated with support for a tax on wealthier individuals to address economic disparities.

中文翻译：

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地方暴露于不平等现象增加了对低财富人群向富人征税的支持

心理学研究表明，个人与同龄人或其他人的社会比较会影响态度的形成 1 、 2 。随着全球不平等 3 、 4 ，这种比较的机会增加了；日常经验可以通过社会阶层 5 、 6 的信号使经济差距更加突出。在这里，我们表明，在社会经济地位较低的个人中，这种当地的不平等暴露推动了对财富再分配的支持。我们设计了一项在南非社区进行的安慰剂对照现场实验，在该实验中，社会经济地位低的个人通过随机出现的高地位汽车遇到现实世界的不平等提醒。行人被要求签署一份请愿书，以增加对富人的税收，以帮助重新分配财富。当考虑到实验性安慰剂效应时，我们发现在存在不平等的情况下签署请愿书的概率增加了 11 个百分点。安慰剂效应总体上抑制了个人签署请愿书的可能性，这与向上的社会比较降低政治效能的证据一致 4 。经济不平等的衡量标准是在社区层面构建的，并与对社会经济地位较低的个人的调查相关联。我们发现，当地面临的不平等与支持对富人征税以解决经济差距呈正相关。不平等似乎会影响通过当地曝光来重新分配财富的偏好。然而，我们的结果表明，不平等也可能抑制参与；因此，我们的调查结果在区域或全国范围内的政治影响仍然不确定。低收入地区的地方暴露于不平等与支持对较富裕的个人征税以解决经济差距呈正相关。