TCD presentation

This presentation

Motivations and research problems
Research experience in the area
Retributive public justice
Meritocracy and inequality
Data and methods

Motivations and Research problems

Unequal Chilean context
Mass protests and demands for redistribution
Differences in beliefs about inequality and actual inequality (Kluegel & Smith, 1981, 1986; Liebig & Sauer, 2016)
Deservingness (Castillo et al., 2023; Mijs, 2021; W. J. H. Van Oorschot, 2000)

Research experience in the area

Carrasco, K., García-Castro, J. D., Castillo, J. C. (2024). The Socialization of Attitudes Toward Inequality and Meritocracy During School Years in Chile. En G. Assusa, G. Benza (Eds.), América Latina desigual. Preguntas, enfoques y tendencias actuales (Clacso y Siglo ventiuno editores, pp. 205-234).
Castillo, J. C., Salgado, M., Carrasco, K., Laffert, A. (2024). The Socialization of Meritocracy and Market Justice Preferences at School. Societies, 14(11), 214. https://doi.org/10.3390/soc14110214
Castillo, J. C., Carrasco, K. (2024). Gender Gaps in the Perception and Justification of Wage Inequality in Chile, 1999–2019. Estudios Públicos, 1-41. https://doi.org/10.38178/07183089/1152230428
Castillo, J. C., Iturra, J., Carrasco, K. (Accepted in march 2025). Changes in the justification of educational inequalities: The role of perceptions of inequality and meritocracy during the COVID pandemic. Social Justice Research

This research: Retributive Public Justice

Preferences and perceptions about inequality and redistribution (Kelley & Evans, 1993; McCall, 2013)
Distributive justice (Cavaillé, 2023; Osberg & Smeeding, 2006)
Theory of equity (Adams, 1965)
Differences between what I contribute to society and what I receive
Are the public goods I get considered just according to my (perceived) contributions?

Research question

How do individual beliefs about inequality shape perceptions of retributive public justice across OECD countries, and to what extent are these perceptions conditioned by individual and country-level characteristics?

Individual factors

Meritocracy is fundamental to determining how individuals evaluate justice of social and economic outcomes (Batruch et al., 2023; Sandel, 2020)
Individuals attributing poverty to lack of effort or ambition tend to support more restrictive welfare policies and perceive benefict recipients as undeserving (Petersen et al., 2011; W. Van Oorschot, 2006)
People who perceive more inequality are more likely to perceive that they receive fewer rewards from society (Easterbrook, 2021; Mijs, 2021)

Contextual factors

Gini index; GDP per-capita
Relative poverty
Welfare-state
Tax revenue (% of GDP); Progressivity of personal income tax

Data and methods

Risks that matter survey 2022
Cross-national survey assesses perceptions of social and economic risks and related policy preferences
Conducted in 25 OECD countries (Austria, Belgium, Canada, Chile, Denmark, Finalnd, France, Germany, Ireland…)
Multilevel analysis
Central dependent variable: Retributive public justice:

“I feel that I receive a fair share of public benefits, given the taxes and social contributions I pay and/or have paid in the past”

Thanks for your attention!

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References

Adams, J. S. (1965). Inequity In Social Exchange. In Advances in Experimental Social Psychology (Vol. 2, pp. 267–299). Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0065-2601(08)60108-2

Batruch, A., Jetten, J., Van De Werfhorst, H., Darnon, C., & Butera, F. (2023). Belief in School Meritocracy and the Legitimization of Social and Income Inequality. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 14(5), 621–635. https://doi.org/10.1177/19485506221111017

Castillo, J. C., Iturra, J., Maldonado, L., Atria, J., & Meneses, F. (2023). A Multidimensional Approach for Measuring Meritocratic Beliefs: Advantages, Limitations and Alternatives to the ISSP Social Inequality Survey. International Journal of Sociology, 53(6), 448–472. https://doi.org/10.1080/00207659.2023.2274712

Cavaillé, C. (2023). Fair enough? Support for redistribution in the age of inequality (1st edition). New York: Cambridge University Press.

Easterbrook, M. J. (2021). The social psychology of economic inequality (43rd ed., Vol. 2021). UNU-WIDER. https://doi.org/10.35188/UNU-WIDER/2021/981-5

Kelley, J., & Evans, M. D. R. (1993). The legitimation of inequality: Occupational earnings in nine nations. American Journal of Sociology, 99(1), 75–125. Retrieved from https://www.jstor.org/stable/2781956

Kluegel, J. R., & Smith, E. R. (1981). Beliefs About Stratification. Annual Review of Sociology, 29–56.

Kluegel, J. R., & Smith, E. R. (1986). Beliefs about Inequality: Americans’ Views of What Is and What Ought to Be (1st ed.). Routledge.

Liebig, S., & Sauer, C. (2016). Sociology of Justice. In C. Sabbagh & M. Schmitt (Eds.), Handbook of Social Justice Theory and Research (pp. 37–59). New York, NY: Springer New York.

McCall, L. (2013). The Undeserving Rich: American Beliefs about Inequality, Opportunity, and Redistribution (1st ed.). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139225687

Mijs, J. J. B. (2021). The paradox of inequality: Income inequality and belief in meritocracy go hand in hand. Socio-Economic Review, 19(1), 7–35. https://doi.org/10.1093/ser/mwy051

Osberg, L., & Smeeding, T. (2006). “Fair” Inequality? Attitudes toward Pay Differentials: The United States in Comparative Perspective. American Sociological Review, 71(3), 450–473. https://doi.org/10.1177/000312240607100305

Petersen, M. B., Slothuus, R., Stubager, R., & Togeby, L. (2011). Deservingness versus values in public opinion on welfare: The automaticity of the deservingness heuristic: Deservingness versus values in public opinion on welfare. European Journal of Political Research, 50(1), 24–52. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-6765.2010.01923.x

Sandel, M. J. (2020). The tyranny of merit: What’s become of the common good? (First edition). New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

Van Oorschot, W. (2006). Making the difference in social Europe: Deservingness perceptions among citizens of European welfare states. Journal of European Social Policy, 16(1), 23–42. https://doi.org/10.1177/0958928706059829

Van Oorschot, W. J. H. (2000). Who should get what, and why? On deservingness criteria and the conditionality of solidarity among the public. Policy and Politics: Studies of Local Government and Its Services, 28(1), 33–48.