The Role of Social Darwinism and Meritocracy in Tolerating Economic and Health Inequality / El rol del darwinismo social y la meritocracia en la tolerancia hacia la desigualdad económica y en la salud

This research examined the role of two system-legitimising ideologies, social Darwinism and meritocracy, in predicting tolerance of inequality in economic resources, and economic inequality in health resources. Specifically, we expected that social Darwinism would be more predictive than meritocracy of tolerance economic inequality in health resources. Furthermore, we expected both ideologies to predict tolerance inequality in economic resources. We conducted a correlational study with a Spanish sample ( N = 262) and another experiment with a North American sample ( N = 500). Social Darwinism emerged as a stronger predictor of tolerance towards economic inequality in health resources than meritocracy, while both ideologies were associated with tolerance towards inequality in economic resources. These results suggest that although both ideologies serve to justify the system, they are not equally associated with the acceptance of inequality when it is framed in specific domains. Identifying the beliefs that sustain the justification of inequality can inform interventions aimed at challenging them and reducing their acceptance.