Income Inequality and Economic Social Comparison

It is widely assumed, yet largely untested, that income inequality fuels social comparison and that comparison is emotionally harmful. We conducted two U.S. studies (N ≈ 7,000) using local income inequality to test these two assumptions and downstream consequences. Confirming the first assumption, residents of more unequal areas reported stronger and more frequent upward and downward economic comparisons. These associations were mediated by perceived competitiveness. Challenging the second assumption, income inequality was associated with a mix of emotional responses to comparison: Inequality consistently predicted resentment when comparing with better-off others and compassion when comparing with worse-off others. Inequality also predicted shame, hope, relief, contempt, and anxiety in one study but not the other. Finally, inequality predicted support for redistribution, an association mediated by resentment and compassion. Together, the findings confirm that income inequality fuels social comparison but reveal that its emotional and attitudinal consequences are more nuanced than commonly assumed.