Economic inequality shapes the agency–communion content of gender stereotypes

Abstract

Economic inequality is a main issue in current societies, and it affects people’s psychological processes. In this research, we propose that perceived economic inequality might affect how people perceive men and women. In two experiments carried out in Spain ( N = 170) and Mexico ( N = 215), we tested whether high (vs. low) economic inequality leads to changes in the perceived agency and communion of both men and women. Our findings suggest that when economic inequality is high (vs. low), the communal content in social perceptions of both men and women decreases. Specifically, under high (vs. low) inequality, the difference in agency and communion ascribed to a man becomes greater (i.e., men are perceived as even more agentic than communal), whereas this difference becomes smaller for women (i.e., women are still perceived as more communal than agentic, but this difference is smaller). We discuss these findings’ implications regarding the psychosocial effects of economic inequality.

Gendered Social Perceptions of “The Poor”: Differences in Individualistic Attributions, Stereotypes, and Attitudes Toward Social Protection Policies

“…Communion (α = .86) was measured with eight items. We used the items for agency and communion from Diekman and Eagly ( 2000 ), which were previously used in Spanish (Moreno-Bella et al, 2022 ): sensitive, affectionate, nice, gentle, sensible, understanding, kind, warmth, and caring. For these three constructs, participants responded on a Likert scale ranging from 1 ( strongly disagree ) to 5 ( strongly agree ).…”

Upholding the Social Hierarchy

“…Open Data, Materials, and Preregistration: All datasets, syntax files, and the preregistration of the study are available at Open Science Framework (https://osf.io/j825h/; Moreno-Bella et al, 2024).…”

The dynamic socioecological model of economic inequality and psychological tendencies: A cycle of mutual constitution

“…This in turn may reduce their happiness and life satisfaction (Kawachi & Kennedy, 1999; Melita et al., 2023; Oishi et al., 2011). Unsurprisingly, under conditions of high economic inequality, individuals trust others less (Elgar & Aitken, 2011; Kawachi et al., 1997; but also see Y. Kim et al., 2022), and they use social stereotypes more (Moreno‐Bella et al., 2022). Moreover, people who worry more about their standing in society are also more inclined to signal their social status.…”

“…This is because a schema can guide the interpretation of stimuli, and how individuals feel and think about other people (Bruner, 1990; Higgins, 1996; Vygotsky, 1962). For example, once the schema of economic inequality is activated, people stereotype others more (Moreno‐Bella et al., 2022). Thus, John might more readily perceive low‐income parents who cannot afford the after‐school club as incompetent, but the high‐income, luxury‐car‐driving parents as hard‐working and intelligent.…”