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Review article explores how entertainment television shapes perceptions of meritocracy and inequality in America, highlighting significant political implications.
The coexistence of public tolerance for high inequality alongside the perception of meritocracy, unreflected in the reality of the contemporary American economy, has puzzled scholars in a number of disciplines. Eunji Kim offers an explanation for this phenomenon in The American Mirage: How Reality Television Upholds the Myth of Meritocracy. Her contribution extends beyond just the impact of entertainment television on attitudes about inequality. The American Mirage represents an important signpost in the scholarship about the impact of implicitly political influences on Americans' political attitudes more broadly.
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Settle et al. (2026) studied this question.
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