Framing Economic Inequality Through Collective Identities: Confronting or Maintaining Inequality

Authors

  • Ángel del Fresno-Díaz
    Institute of Psychology, University of Gdańsk, Gdańsk, Poland; Centro de Investigación, Mente, Cerebro y Comportamiento (CIMCYC), University of Granada, Granada, Spain
  • Rebekka Kesberg
    School of Psychology, University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton, United Kingdom
  • Guillermo B. Willis
    Centro de Investigación, Mente, Cerebro y Comportamiento (CIMCYC), University of Granada, Granada, Spain
  • Soledad de Lemus
    Centro de Investigación, Mente, Cerebro y Comportamiento (CIMCYC), University of Granada, Granada, Spain
  • Matthew J. Easterbrook
    School of Psychology, University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton, United Kingdom

Abstract

The political context can shape the collective identities through which economic inequality is understood and politicised. Using representative public domain samples from five European countries in Study 1 (N = 5,980) and newly collected samples from the UK and Spain in Study 2 (N = 803), we examine how identity frameworks relate to attitudes toward inequality (intolerance), political participation, and collective action aimed at both confronting inequality and maintaining the status quo. Identification with common people was associated with greater intolerance of inequality and higher political participation in Study 1 but showed a more ambivalent pattern in Study 2. National collective narcissism was linked to lower intolerance and lower political participation (Study 1) and, together with national identity, to a greater support for collective actions that maintain the status quo (Study 2). In contrast, identities centred on inequality (i.e., the 99% and the working class) were more consistently associated with challenging inequality. These findings suggest that the way inequality is framed through identity—whether populist, national, or wealth-based—shape responses that either confront or maintain economic inequality across contexts.