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Economic inequality has negative consequences at different levels. At the individual level, it may affect social perception and configure specific features that may generate a normative climate. The current research's main goals were (a) to analyse the effects of inequality on the attributions of others' consumer behaviour and (b) to provide empirical evidence about how inequality configures normative consumer habits focusing on luxury consumption. This work includes three preregistered experimental studies. In Study 1 (N = 276) and Study 2 (N = 301), we used a between-participants design with two experimental conditions (high vs. low inequality). In Study 3, we reversed the order of the variables to identify whether luxury consumption triggered expectations about the levels of inequality in a specific context. Results showed that in high (vs. low) economic inequality settings, participants inferred more materialism, status-seeking, status anxiety and conspicuous consumption in others. Furthermore, luxury consumption became a predictor of economic inequality. Thus, economic inequality affects attribution processes and works as a clue to infer descriptive norms in a society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Perceptions of economic inequality have become a topic of growing interest in research from different social science disciplines. This article presents an up-to-date literature review of studies on this topic, stressing aspects related to its conceptualization and measurement, as well as psychosocial, socioeconomic and contextual factors associated with the perception of inequality. This review ends by pointing out some consequences of perception of inequality and identifying some pathways for future research agendas [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As people's concerns about wealth inequality have not grown even as warnings are raised about its negative impact on societies and individuals, research has inquired into factors that influence people's tolerance towards wealth inequalities. Previous research has shown that higher social position and meritocracy beliefs tend to reduce concern for wealth inequality. Two studies seek to replicate these findings in the Philippines, a country which reports high levels of tolerance for inequality but which does not fit models that explain country differences in tolerance for inequality. In Study 1, survey data showed meritocracy beliefs were negatively related to intolerance towards wealth inequality; this relationship was found only among higher subjective social class Filipinos. In Study 2, an experiment found that priming meritocracy reduced intolerance towards wealth inequality in a sample of higher social class Filipino. Results provide country-specific evidence on the inequality-legitimizing effects of meritocracy on higher subjective social class Filipinos' attitudes towards wealth inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The health crisis caused by the spread of COVID-19 will deepen the economic inequality already found in most countries. Among other effects, it will increase the health, educational and labour gap among citizens. Taking into account the psychosocial effects of economic inequality can be useful when proposing actions aimed at reducing its negative effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]