Perceiving inequality
Although cultural diversity is typically thought of separately from inequality, it is often the case that diverse societies are fundamentally unequal ones. What factors shape whether people perceive and/or acknowledge different types of inequality? Recent studies in the lab find that Americans largely misperceive the extent to which racial economic inequality has been attained in the United States (Kraus, Rucker, & Richeson, 2017). Indeed, White and Black Americans from both the top and bottom of the national income distribution, on average, estimated greater progress toward Black-White economic equality than has taken place, largely driven by over-estimates of the current state of racial economic equality compared to National statistics. These overestimates were predicted by greater belief in a just world and social network racial diversity (among Black Americans), as well as differences in subgroup societal status.
These findings suggest a profound misperception of and unfounded optimism regarding societal race-based economic equality. Indeed, our research suggests a fundamental belief in the mythology of racial progress; namely, the narrative that America’s path toward, if not achievement of, racial equality is automatic, linear, and inevitable. Not only is this narrative overly optimistic, but it is entirely unfounded for some domains of societal well-being, such as racial disparities in wealth (Kraus et al., 2019). Uncovering the factors that sustain this narrative (e.g., Onyeador et al., 2021) is critical to fostering accurate understanding of the current state of racial equality— a necessary condition for engendering reparative action.
This misperception of racial economic inequality seems to generalize to racial inequality more generally. One factor that predicts more accurate perceptions of the actual state of racial disparities in American society is having an appreciation for the structural nature of racism. Specifically, we are investigating how lay beliefs about the nature of racism— as primarily due to prejudiced individuals or, rather, to institutional/structural factors that disadvantage members of particular racial groups—shape perceptions of racial inequality. Indeed, accounting for these lay beliefs helps to reduce the “gap” in perceived racial inequality typically found between White individuals and those from racial minority backgrounds (Rucker, Duker, & Richeson, 2024).
Another project in this broad area of inquiry concerns responses to exposure to rising economic inequality in American society. In recent research with CUNY graduate center sociologist, Leslie McCall, we explore and test the opportunity model of beliefs about economic inequality. Specifically, in McCall, Burk, Laperrière, and Richeson (2017) we expose American adults to information about rising economic inequality in the US (or control information) and then ask about their beliefs regarding the roles of structural (e.g., being born wealthy) and individual (e.g., hard work) factors in getting ahead in society (i.e., opportunity beliefs), followed by their support for business and government actors to enact policies that will reduce economic inequality. Rather than revealing insensitivity to rising inequality, these results suggest that rising economic inequality in contemporary society can spark skepticism about the existence of opportunity to get ahead in society that, in turn, may motivate support for policies designed to redress inequality. We are currently pursuing research investigating whether exposure to rising economic inequality can increase awareness of racial economic gaps (Rucker, Hudson, Callahan, Kraus, & Richeson, in preparation), perhaps because it increases skepticism that economic outcomes are not constrained by racial group membership (Dietze, McCall, Craig, & Richeson, in preparation).
Reasoning about inequality
Once perceived, how do people respond to information about inequality? Our emerging work suggests that beliefs about the nature of racism are relevant to this question as well. For instance, several studies find that Whites’ responses to information about racial disparities in the prison population are shaped, at least in part by, their lay beliefs regarding racism. Individuals with a more structural, rather than interpersonal, understanding of racism are more likely to respond to information about the disproportionate number of Black individuals in the prison population with increased support for policies that would reduce these disparities in mass incarceration, especially those that are especially concerned about societal hierarchy (see again Rucker, Duker, & Richeson, 2024). Our ongoing research will examine these processes in other domains of racial inequality as well as in other forms of intergroup inequality.
Another factor that appears to shape how people reason about inequality is whether they believe (or have been informed) it is a consequence of implicit/unconscious, rather than explicit/conscious, attitudes and beliefs. Specifically, research and theory on moral responsibility suggest that people who engage in discrimination due to biases and beliefs that are held unconsciously or triggered automatically (i.e., implicit bias) may be deemed less culpable for their actions than those who engage in discrimination due to biases and beliefs that they hold consciously. Consistent with this prediction, we (Daumeyer, Onyeador, Brown, & Richeson, 2019) found that when presented with communications of scientific findings reporting on the systemic discriminatory effects of implicit (rather than explicit) bias, people hold the perpetrators less accountable and deem them less worthy of punishment. We have now observed this reduced accountability for implicit bias effect in three different contexts (medical interactions, police-citizen interactions, Tech workplaces) and across four different types of bias (partisan, ageism, racism, sexism). Our ongoing research, funded by support from the National Science Foundation, explores the mechanisms underlying these effects, their implications for individuals’ beliefs about the nature of discrimination based on race and gender, and optimism that discrimination can be reduced in society.