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Front Matter Cambridge University Press 978-1-107-02723-7 - The Undeserving Rich: American Beliefs about Inequality, Opportunity, and Redistribution Leslie McCall Frontmatter More information The Undeserving Rich American Beliefs about Inequality, Opportunity, and Redistribution It is widely assumed that Americans care little about income inequality, believe opportunities abound, admire the rich, and dislike redistributive policies. Leslie McCall contends that such assumptions are based on incomplete survey data and economic conditions of the past rather than present. In fact, Americans have desired less inequality for decades, and McCall’s book explains why. Americans become most concerned about inequality in times of inequitable growth, when they view the rich as prospering while opportunities for good jobs, fair pay, and high-quality education are restricted for everyone else. As a result, they tend to favor policies to expand opportunity and redistribute earnings in the workplace, reducing inequality in the market rather than redistributing income after the fact with tax and spending policies. This book resolves the paradox of how Americans can at times express little enthusiasm for welfare state policies and still yearn for a more equitable society, and forwards a new model of preferences about income inequality rooted in labor market opportunities rather than welfare state policies. Leslie McCall is Professor of Sociology and Political Science, as well as Faculty Fellow at the Institute for Policy Research, at Northwestern University. She is the author of Complex Inequality: Gender, Class, and Race in the New Economy (2001). Her work on economic inequal- ity has been published in the American Sociological Review, Annual Review of Sociology, Demography, Economic Geography, Perspectives on Politics, Signs,andSocio-Economic Review, as well as in several edited volumes. © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-1-107-02723-7 - The Undeserving Rich: American Beliefs about Inequality, Opportunity, and Redistribution Leslie McCall Frontmatter More information © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-1-107-02723-7 - The Undeserving Rich: American Beliefs about Inequality, Opportunity, and Redistribution Leslie McCall Frontmatter More information The Undeserving Rich American Beliefs about Inequality, Opportunity, and Redistribution LESLIE MCCALL Northwestern University © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-1-107-02723-7 - The Undeserving Rich: American Beliefs about Inequality, Opportunity, and Redistribution Leslie McCall Frontmatter More information cambridge university press Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, Sao˜ Paulo, Delhi, Mexico City Cambridge University Press 32 Avenue of the Americas, New York, ny 10013-2473, usa www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9781107699823 C Leslie McCall 2013 This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 2013 Printed in the United States of America A catalog record for this publication is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data McCall, Leslie, 1964– author. The undeserving rich : American beliefs about inequality, opportunity, and redistribution / Leslie McCall, Northwestern University. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn 978-1-107-02723-7 (hardback) – isbn 978-1-107-69982-3 (paperback) 1. Income distribution – United States. 2. Equality – United States. 3. United States – Economic conditions. I. Title. hc110.i5m374 2013 339.220973–dc23 2012037611 isbn 978-1-107-02723-7 Hardback isbn 978-1-107-69982-3 Paperback Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of urls for external or third-party internet web sites referred to in this publication and does not guarantee that any content on such web sites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate. © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-1-107-02723-7 - The Undeserving Rich: American Beliefs about Inequality, Opportunity, and Redistribution Leslie McCall Frontmatter More information Contents Tables and Figures page vii Preface and Acknowledgments xi Introduction: Thinking about Income Inequality 1 1 Beyond the Opposition between Opportunity and Inequality: Theories of American Beliefs about Inequality from the Nineteenth Century to the Present 21 2 The Emergence of a New Social Issue: Media Coverage of Economic Inequality and Social Class in the United States, 1980–2010 53 3 American Beliefs about Income Inequality: What, When, Who, and Why? 96 4 Why Do Americans Care about Income Inequality? The Role of Opportunity 137 5 Americans’ Social Policy Preferences in the Era of Rising Inequality 186 Conclusion: A New Era of Beliefs about Inequality 219 Notes 233 References 277 Index 293 v © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-1-107-02723-7 - The Undeserving Rich: American Beliefs about Inequality, Opportunity, and Redistribution Leslie McCall Frontmatter More information © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-1-107-02723-7 - The Undeserving Rich: American Beliefs about Inequality, Opportunity, and Redistribution Leslie McCall Frontmatter More information Tables and Figures Tables 2.1 Defining media coverage of economic inequality. page 61 2.2 Distribution of subject terms in articles on themes of social class and job insecurity. 75 3.1 Adjusted marginal effects of optimism about intragenerational upward mobility on three questions about beliefs regarding income inequality, 1987 to 2010. 115 A3.1 Marginal distributions of three questions about beliefs regarding income inequality by year, 1987 to 2010. 131 A3.2 Linear regression effects on an additive index of three questions about beliefs regarding income inequality, 1987 to 2010. 132 A3.3 Coding and sample means for dependent and independent variables. 133 A3.4 Year effects on three questions about beliefs regarding income inequality, 1987 to 2010. 135 4.1 Five tropes of opportunity. 141 4.2 Marginal distributions of questions about the importance of individual and structural factors in getting ahead. 151 4.3 Joint distribution of beliefs about getting ahead through hard work and social advantages. 154 4.4 Trends in perceived and desired pay and pay ratios for executives and unskilled workers, 1987 to 2010. 160 vii © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-1-107-02723-7 - The Undeserving Rich: American Beliefs about Inequality, Opportunity, and Redistribution Leslie McCall Frontmatter More information viii Tables and Figures 4.5 Adjusted marginal effects of beliefs about occupational pay inequality on three questions about beliefs regarding income inequality, 1987 to 2010. 165 4.6 Support for equal opportunity, rights, chances, and treatment, 1984 to 2008. 176 4.7 Estimates of the relationship among beliefs about social groups, social group–based inequality, egalitarianism, and income inequality. 179 A4.1 Adjusted marginal effects of beliefs about bootstraps and equal treatment opportunity on three questions about beliefs regarding income inequality, 1987 to 2010. 185 5.1 Public opinion polls regarding top-end pay and policies to regulate high-paying industries. 211 Figures 2.1 Number of newsweekly articles from Time, Newsweek, and USNWR with subject terms on themes of economic inequality, social class, and job insecurity, 1980 to 2010. 69 2.2 Weighted number of newsweekly articles from Time, Newsweek, and USNWR on themes of economic inequality, 1980 to 2010. 82 C2.1 Weighted number of newsweekly articles from Time, Newsweek, and USNWR on various themes, 1980 to 2010. 95 3.1 Pooled responses to three questions about beliefs regarding income inequality, 1987 to 2010. 101 3.2 Trends in agreement to three questions about beliefs regarding income inequality, 1987 to 2010. 102 3.3 Adjusted trends in strong agreement to three questions about beliefs regarding income inequality, 1987 to 2010. 108 3.4 Adjusted trends in strong agreement that income differences are too large by income and political ideology, 1987 to 2010. 111 3.5 Trends in responses to a question about intragenerational upward mobility, 1987 to 2010. 114 3.6 Trends in average monthly unemployment rate and index of consumer sentiment, April to March, 1981 to 2010. 117 © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-1-107-02723-7 - The Undeserving Rich: American Beliefs about Inequality, Opportunity, and Redistribution Leslie McCall Frontmatter More information Tables and Figures ix 3.7 Trends in income inequality and median wages, 1980 to 2009. 121 3.8 Trends in newsweekly articles on themes of economic inequality, April to March, 1981 to 2010. 124 4.1 Trends in beliefs about the most important reason for getting ahead in life, 1973 to 2010. 148 4.2 Adjusted effects of beliefs about getting ahead on strong agreement to three questions about beliefs regarding income inequality, 1987 to 2010. 149 4.3 Adjusted effects of beliefs about bootstraps and
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