The standard model of redistribution posits that attitudes towards redistribution are driven by pure economic self-interest, such as current income. From a social-psychological perspective, however, subjective social status, apart from objective income or social status, is also closely associated with policy preferences. This inquiry directly compares these two different approaches and further explores the role of individuals’ inequality perceptions, including personal norms of inequality to which researchers have paid little attention so far, in shaping individuals’ preferences for redistribution. The current evidence shows that the explanatory power of objective income position is not stronger than that of subjective social position in determining redistributive preferences, while objective social position, which is a summary measure of income, education, and occupation, is more strongly associated with the preferences than perceived social position. The results also demonstrate that individuals’ inequality norms play a more crucial role in the preference formation than does their perceptions of actual inequality. These new findings contribute to redistributive politics and behavioural economics on other-regarding preferences, first, by rebutting the determining role of objective income position in shaping redistributive preferences, as opposed to the basic assumption of the conventional redistribution hypothesis; second, by providing the empirical evidence of the importance of social preferences outside the field of experimental studies.

重新分配的标准模型认为，对重新分配的态度是由纯粹的经济自利驱动的，例如当期收入。但是，从社会心理学的角度来看，除客观收入或社会地位外，主观社会地位也与政策偏好密切相关。这项调查直接比较了这两种不同的方法，并进一步探讨了个人的不平等观念，包括到目前为止研究人员很少关注的个人不平等规范在塑造个人对再分配的偏好方面的作用。当前的证据表明，客观收入状况在决定再分配偏好方面的解释能力不强于主观社会地位，而客观社会地位是对收入的概括性衡量，教育和职业与偏好比与感知的社会地位更紧密相关。结果还表明，个人的不平等规范在偏好形成中比他们对实际不平等的感知更为重要。这些新发现首先反驳了客观收入状况在塑造再分配偏好中的作用，这与传统再分配假设的基本假设相反；这有助于在其他方面的偏好上进行再分配政治和行为经济学。其次，通过提供实验证据证明社会偏好在实验研究领域之外的重要性。结果还表明，个人的不平等规范在偏好形成中比他们对实际不平等的感知更为重要。这些新发现首先反驳了客观收入状况在塑造再分配偏好中的作用，这与传统再分配假设的基本假设相反；这有助于在其他方面的偏好上进行再分配政治和行为经济学。其次，通过提供实验证据证明社会偏好在实验研究领域之外的重要性。结果还表明，个人的不平等规范在偏好形成中比他们对实际不平等的感知更为重要。这些新发现首先反驳了客观收入状况在塑造再分配偏好中的作用，这与传统再分配假设的基本假设相反；这有助于在其他方面的偏好上进行再分配政治和行为经济学。其次，通过提供实验证据证明社会偏好在实验研究领域之外的重要性。与传统的再分配假设的基本假设相反，通过反驳客观收入状况在确定再分配偏好方面的决定性作用；其次，通过提供实验证据证明社会偏好在实验研究领域之外的重要性。与传统的再分配假设的基本假设相反，通过反驳客观收入状况在确定再分配偏好方面的决定性作用；其次，通过提供实验证据证明社会偏好在实验研究领域之外的重要性。