This article focuses on the close association between inequality and punishment observed over recent decades at a macro level, at least in some regions of the world. A review of the empirical literature first provides an overview of the different types of variables mobilized to try to understand this complex relationship. The aim of the empirical part is to explore the potential role of attitudes towards inequality in this relationship, on the basis of country-level data available for West European countries. The results do not support the idea that a more meritocratic ethos at the country level would create the connection between inequality and punishment. On the contrary, they suggest the persistence of a systemic link independently of attitudinal variables. However, by showing that, the greater the inequality, the more the population calls for redistributive intervention by the state, and the more it also calls for punitive intervention, the findings could suggest another pattern. This moves away from a rather deterministic perspective to highlight the room for manoeuvre for social change.

本文重点关注近几十年来在宏观层面上观察到的不平等与惩罚之间的密切关联，至少在世界某些地区是如此。对实证文献的回顾首先概述了为理解这种复杂关系而动员起来的不同类型的变量。实证部分的目的是在西欧国家可用的国家级数据的基础上，探讨对不平等的态度在这种关系中的潜在作用。结果并不支持这样一种观点，即在国家层面上更加任人唯贤的精神会在不平等和惩罚之间建立联系。相反，他们建议独立于态度变量的系统联系的持久性。然而，通过证明，不平等越大，民众越是要求国家进行再分配干预，也越是要求惩罚性干预，调查结果可能表明另一种模式。这偏离了相当确定性的观点，以突出社会变革的回旋余地。