La cultura de la desigualdadefectos de la distribución de recursos sobre el individualismo

Resumen

Economic inequality has considerably increased around the world (OECD, 2015; Piketty, 2014). Several studies have shown that more unequal societies are more dysfunctional; that is, they show more health and social problems than more egalitarian societies (Wilkinson & Pickett, 2009). Following an eco-cultural approach, it has been argued that economic inequality creates a specific environment wherein people have to strategically adapt their behaviour. Social strategies based on dominance and competition seem to be more appropriate in a high unequal context, in which improving or not losing one’s rank becomes crucial. Conversely, strategies based on friendship, reciprocity, and sharing are more likely to be more successful in a context with lower economic inequality (Wilkinson & Pickett, 2017). In short, economic inequality seems to increase social distance. We suggest that a greater social distance between individuals might be providing a fertile ground for individualistic features to come to the fore. The present dissertation examines whether economic inequality triggers an individualistic—instead of a collectivistic—culture. In doing so, we have adapted an experimental paradigm that allows to manipulate perceived economic inequality and explore its psychological outcomes. Accordingly, empirical evidence included in this dissertation is (mainly) built on experimental research and show how inequality influences different expressions of individualism-collectivism as a cultural dimension. Particularly, we aim to answer the following questions: -Does perceived economic inequality affect the perceived normative climate of a given social context? -Does perceived economic inequality influence the expectations that people have about themselves and how they behave in a new social context? -Does perceived economic inequality condition the image that people have of themselves? The thesis is structured in seven chapters. The first chapter presents a theoretical review of the most relevant literature about the psychological consequences of economic inequality and the antecedents of individualism-collectivism. The second chapter introduces the motivation and aims of the present doctoral thesis. Chapters from 3 to 6 present empirical research of this dissertation—it should be noted that these chapters were written with the intention of being submitted for publication, and some of them are already accepted, therefore, certain explanations, arguments and theorizing may appear repeatedly in some of them. Specifically, Chapter 3 presents three experiments exploring how economic inequality enhances inferences about the normative climate being individualistic and competitive; Chapter 4 focuses on how economic inequality leads individuals to expect normative and personal individualistic values in a social context; Chapter 5 and 6 address how economic inequality induces an individualistic self-construal. Afterwards we present a general discussion in Chapter 7. Finally, we summarize the main results of this dissertation and include some concluding thoughts. Additionally, to fulfil the requirements of the International PhD program at University of Granada, all the empirical chapters and the final conclusions are written in English, whereas the theoretical introduction, motivation and the aims of the research, and the general discussion are written in Spanish. Our results suggest that the societal level of economic inequality informs us about important features of that society and the individuals who live in there. Particularly, when the economic gap between the poorest and wealthiest people was larger, participants expected that others will feel more independent, will tend to expect something in return in their social relationships, will look out more for their own goals (without considering group goals), and will embrace more self-enhancement than self-transcendence values; moreover, they will also perceive more competition and less cooperation. Conversely, when a small difference arose between the wealthiest and the poorest groups in society, participants expected that people will feel more connected to others, will invest more in relationships (even if they do not get any benefits from them), will be more likely to look out for group goals, and will embrace more self-transcendence than self-enhancement values. Furthermore, economic inequality also conditions individuals’ expectations about their values and self-construal. Particularly, in high (vs. low) economic inequality contexts, participants expected to uphold more self-enhancement and less self-transcendence values, and seem to be more different from (i.e., less similar to) others and more self-reliant (i.e., less dependent on others). Finally, low economic inequality seems to trigger an interdependent self-construal. In the present thesis we have conducted an adaptation of an experimental paradigm used in previous studies that allowed us to manipulate perceived economic inequality in a lab setting. We therefore have been able to explore the causal relationship between perceived economic inequality and individualistic/collectivistic social norms, values, and self-construal. The findings of this dissertation are in line with previous literature showing that economic inequality increases social distance. Therefore, economic inequality is not just an economic issue: Economic inequality is also a social issue, which has to be addressed considering the socio-psychological processes that it may trigger.