A Growing Rift in Values? Income and Educational Inequality and Their Impact on Mass Attitude Polarization

Objectives Competing theoretical models from economics and social psychology would suggest either a negative or positive association between income inequality and attitude polarization. In order to address the conflicting nature of the predictions made by these theoretical accounts, this analysis tests whether inequality indeed impacts polarization in Left†Right ideological self†placement for a diverse sample of democracies. Methods I use World Values Surveys—European Values Surveys 1981–2008 combined data for obtaining a large time†series cross†sectional data set of indicators of attitude polarization. I rely on mixed†effects models to test whether there is any connection between income inequality and polarization, after controlling for additional relevant factors, such as educational inequality. Results Findings point to no effect of income inequality on any measure of attitude polarization once educational inequality is controlled for. The latter type of inequality, on the other hand, has a consistent effect on two indicators of inequality, spread and bimodality, in the expected direction. Conclusions In spite of a highly plausible posited connection between income inequality and Left†Right attitude polarization, this analysis has failed to find any connection between the two. Instead, educational inequality appears to exert a consistent effect on attitude polarization. The findings point to the need for a more nuanced view of connections between economic inequality and political attitudes and behaviors, and to the possibility that shifts in inequality of the magnitude observed in OECD countries might not lead to social tensions.