ABSTRACT
This chapter explains the evaluation of beliefs about income inequality under quite different scenarios, yielding different views of Americans' concerns about inequality: relative concern when growth is perceived as inequitable and relative tolerance when growth is perceived as equitable. The best individual-level data on multiple dimensions of beliefs about income inequality comes from the social inequality modules of the General Social Survey (GSS) in 1987, 1996, 2000, 2008, and 2010, and the International Social Survey Program (ISSP) in 1992. The chapter argues that differences in income in America are too large, inequality continues to exist because it benefits the rich and powerful, and large differences in income are necessary for America's prosperity. The nonlinear trend in attitudes towards inequality is virtually unchanged by compositional shifts in economic status, education, political orientation, which are the most likely to induce attitudinal shifts.
