Economic Issues Are Moral Issues 2: Attributing Blame for Inequality Occurring in the United States versus Foreign Countries

• Published in: Analyses of social issues and public policy Vol. 20; no. 1; pp. 7 - 25
• Main Author: Franks, Andrew S.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Malden Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01-12-2020
• Subjects: Companies; Conservatism; Equality; Fairness; Inequality; Low income groups; Loyalty; Moral judgment; Political parties; Poverty; United States > US
• ISSN: 1529-7489; 1530-2415
• DOI: 10.1111/asap.12190

Moral appeals consistent with an individual's values affect their propensity to take action against inequality and its deleterious effects. Accordingly, moral foundations such as harm, fairness, loyalty, authority, or purity concerns could also affect perceptions of inequality and attributions regarding who is to blame for it. For instance, individuals high in loyalty concerns, who are typically more conservative, may show in‐group favoritism toward their own country by expressing less moral judgment of inequality in their own country versus other countries. Further, research germane to the belief in a just world has shown that conservatives are more likely to blame the poor for their poverty. The current research investigated the degree to which participants’ moral reactions to a high degree of economic inequality are influenced by the country in which that inequality exists as well as the degree to which liberals (Democrats) versus conservatives (Republicans) blame inequality on different target groups. A mixed‐design experiment tested participants’ degree of blame for equality across all targets (the poor, the rich, corporations, the government) for one of three randomly assigned countries (the United States, Australia, or China). Results were consistent with predictions related to moral concerns and ideological differences in attributions.