Do Data about Wealth Distribution Change Views about Wealth Inequality?

Everhardus, Justin (2025) Do Data about Wealth Distribution Change Views about Wealth Inequality? Bachelor thesis, Sociology.

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Abstract

Wealth inequality is a pressing issue, and also something which people in the Netherlands often underestimate because it is hard to grasp. Correcting these misestimations might cause people to be more aware of the unfairness of wealth inequality and do something about it. This research paper seeks to assess whether seeing accurate data about wealth inequality causes people to perceive wealth inequality as more unfair. This will be examined through the lens of relative deprivation theory. Additionally, this paper examines whether this effect is moderated by whether participants know people of different wealth levels and people’s tendency to justify the system they live in. To analyze this, data is used from the LISS-panel “Social Inequality in the Netherlands: Perceptions, Attitudes and Explanations” by Centerdata, administered to random households in the Netherlands drawn from the population register, taking place in September 2020. An experimental design is used to show certain participants data about the wealth distribution in the Netherlands, and others different data. A stepwise logistic regression is used to analyze the effect of being shown this data. It turns out data about wealth inequality does cause people to consider wealth inequality as being more unfair, but neither of the moderation effects could be proven. Future research might aim to investigate whether this translates into policy preference.

Item Type:	Thesis (Bachelor)
Supervisor name:	Redhead, D.J.
Degree programme:	Sociology
Differentiation route:	None [Bachelor Sociology]
Date Deposited:	07 Jul 2025 08:22
Last Modified:	07 Jul 2025 08:22
URI:	http://gmwpublic.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/5316

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