SGER: Replication of Questions on Inequality in the 2008 General Social Survey

Northwestern University, Evanston IL

Investigators

Abstract

SES- 0749243 Leslie McCall Northwestern University Rising levels of income inequality are accompanying the rapid pace of economic globalization. According to United States census data income inequality began to increase rapidly in the 1980's, reaching its plateau in late 1990, and started to rise again over the past five years. Meanwhile, there is little data on people's views about rising income inequality. As a result, the assumption is often made that Americans do not care about income inequality. The PI seeks support to include a module on the 2008 General Social Survey (GSS) that replicates questions on attitudes about income inequality. The questions in this module are focused on income inequality versus general inequality that other surveys have tended to address. These questions provide data that speak to several theoretical themes developed in previous research on beliefs about income inequality, for example the appropriateness of existing levels of inequality and the fairness, functionality, and benefits of income inequality. The PI is requesting support to field questions on the 2008 GSS survey. The questions were first asked in 1987 and then again in 1992, 1996 and 2000 as part of the Social Inequality Modules of the International Social Survey Program (ISSP). Since the GSS/ISSP questions have only been replicated four time, and not since 2000, the usefulness of the data series to capture the continuing rise in income inequality is severely limited. Inclusion of these questions on the 2008 GSS, which is the start of the GSS panel design, will allow the Survey to collect longitudinal data on views of income inequality, thus increasing the value of this data series. The replication of the GSS/ISSP questions on income inequality adds to the Inequality Module series and captures attitudinal information of a phenomenon, which has been steadily increasing both domestically and globally over the past 20 years. The inclusion of income inequality questions on the 2008 (and future panel surveys) will increase the usefulness of the GSS as a source of information on beliefs about rising (or declining) inequality. These attitudes can be analyzed relative to information on continuing social, economic and political changes. Data collected will be available to the general public along with all publicly available GSS data, enabling widespread access for analysis of attitudes toward income inequality.