Given the near-historic levels of economic inequality in the United States, it is vital to understand when and why people are motivated to reduce it. We examine whether the manner in which economic inequality and policy are framed—in terms of either upper-socio-economic-class advantages or lower-socio-economic-class disadvantages—influences individuals’ reactions to inequality. Across five studies, framing redistributive policy (Study 1) as disadvantage-reducing (versus advantage-reducing) and economic inequality (Studies 2–5) as lower-class disadvantages (versus upper-class advantages or a control frame) enhances support for action to reduce inequality. Moreover, increased support is partly driven by perceptions that inequality is more unjust if framed as lower-class disadvantages. Using diverse methodologies (for example, social media engagement on Facebook) and nationally representative samples of self-reported upper-class and lower-class individuals, this work suggests that the ways in which economic inequality is communicated (for example, by the media) may reliably influence people’s reactions to and concern for the issue.

鉴于美国的经济不平等程度接近历史水平，因此了解何时以及为什么人们有动力减少这种不平等至关重要。我们检查了经济不平等和政策的制定方式（从上层社会经济阶层的优势还是下层社会经济阶层的劣势）影响个人对不平等的反应。在五项研究中，将再分配政策（研究1）定为减少不利条件（相对于减少优势），将经济不平等（研究2-5）定为较低阶级的不利条件（相对于较高阶级的优势或控制框架），可以增强对行动的支持减少不平等。此外，增加支持的部分原因是人们认为，如果将不平等视为下层阶级的劣势，不平等就更加不公平。使用多种方法（例如，