Why people prefer unequal societies

Having less inequality does not contradict meritocracy. Studies show that a fair society does not spread welfare equally [1]: a fair society still rewards merit, work, and contributions, but not to the exaggerated extent as we do nowadays most likely due to the herding and random effect of advertisements [2]. The U.S. and California lead the pack. Hopefully we will learn and adjust, but most likely it's going to be a very slow and unfortunately painful process... [1] Starmans, C., Sheskin, M., & Bloom, P. (2017). Why people prefer unequal societies. Nature Human Behaviour, 1(4), 0082. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-017-0082 [2] Salganik, M. J., Dodds, P. S., & Watts, D. J. (2006). Experimental study of inequality and unpredictability in an artificial cultural market. Science (New York, N.Y.), 311(5762), 854–856. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1121066

It's key that monkeys, like humans, object to unfairness--not 'inequality.' Turns out that relative contribution matters a lot to how monkeys/people judge rewards.[1] [1]https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-017-0082

I found this via HN when it was published, the TL;DR being that people aren't really opposed to inequality, they're opposed to unfairness. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-017-0082 The relevant chunk of the abstract: > There is immense concern about economic inequality, both among the scholarly community and in the general public, and many insist that equality is an important social goal. However, when people are asked about the ideal distribution of wealth in their country, they actually prefer unequal societies. We suggest that these two phenomena can be reconciled by noticing that, despite appearances to the contrary, there is no evidence that people are bothered by economic inequality itself. Rather, they are bothered by something that is often confounded with inequality: economic unfairness. Not that this actually answers your question... ;)

> I think this is the essence of the recent debate about inequality. I think most people would not have a problem with those who are genuinely producing more getting more as well. Think back to school, did you ever complain about your grades if you knew some other kid had worked harder? Me neither. Of course there were times when it seemed arbitrary as well, seemingly having no relevance to quality. It's a big problem creating a notion of fairness when you move on from school, where everyone is the same age, in the same class, doing the same homework. You are not alone: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-017-0082