The study of perceived economic differences in everyday life is relevant to deepen the
knowledge of how inequality shapes psychological processes. In the current research,
Spanish undergraduates (N=547) were asked what their friends with the most and least
money could do with their resources. Using a qualitative and quantitative approach, we
performed a content analysis of the 1,085 open-ended responses given, ran latent class
analyses with the coded material to identify groups of participants, and explored whether
class membership was associated with their awareness of inequality and support for
redistribution. Participants perceived inequality among their friends through daily
indicators such as consumption, opportunities, leisure, and mental health; some
participants used compensatory strategies to mitigate perceived inequality. Latent class
analyses suggested that participants differed mostly in the attention paid to consumption
and in the use of compensatory strategies. Exploratory analyses suggested that perceiving
inequality in everyday life in terms of consumption, negative attributes towards the
wealthy, or positive attributes towards low socioeconomic groups was related to
acknowledging economic differences among individuals and support for redistribution.
The study of perceived economic inequality in everyday life continues a new line of
research with the potential to obtain results more consistent with people's experiences.OAICE-006-2017UCR::Sedes Regionales::Sede de Occident
