ABSTRACT
Why do children differing in social background differ in their knowledge and views of social inequalities? We think two distinct social processes are at work here. First, social groups collectively construct accounts of matters that are relevant to their circumstances. It may be that in all societies, privileged social groups need to construct rationalisations of their privilege, even when their position can readily be defended by force. But the need is particularly strong in societies where power is allocated by popular mandate. Arguments for privilege will need to be deployed in the contests for power represented by parliamentary elections, for example. But a particularly important audience for these arguments will be the in-group. The in-group needs to remain convinced of its virtue and must take responsibility for defending its economic position. If we are right this leads to the expectation that arguments for inequality will be most extensively developed within the social group that bene®ts most from this inequality. But why should children from economically advantaged backgrounds also be much more aware of the scale of inequalities than children from economically disadvantaged backgrounds?
