UNEQUAL EXPERIENCES: HOW SOCIAL ENVIRONMENTS SHAPE PEOPLE¿S ATTITUDES TOWARDS INEQUALITY

This dissertation investigates how social environments—particularly personal networks and socializing institutions—shape individuals' attitudes towards inequality. It fills a critical gap in distributive justice research by exploring the effects of the socioeconomic composition of acquaintances, social network size, and life course exposure to diverse social groups on perceptions of inequality, justice ideologies, and redistributive preferences. Through three empirical studies, this research underlines the centrality of meso-level dynamics to attitude formation by pointing to the role of network diversity, status, and size as drivers of individual views. Chapter 1 shows that socioeconomic diversity in networks heightens perceptions of inequality, while high-status networks reduce perceptions of inequality and support for redistribution, particularly among high-SES individuals. Chapter 2 examines how network size moderates these effects, showing that the larger the network, the stronger their amplification on egalitarian beliefs, while smaller networks have less impact. Chapter 3 takes a life course perspective, demonstrating that sustained exposure to mixed and low-status environments through socializing institutions fosters stronger perceptions of inequality and more intense egalitarian beliefs. Results offer key theoretical implications for the distributive justice research through acquaintances' socioeconomic composition, network size, and life course exposure. This dissertation therefore underlines the need for future research on these meso-level dynamics in more detail, especially in longitudinal and comparative settings. It also outlines some policy implications for policy makers, organizations and advocates, suggesting that promoting social diversity and addressing inequality at various stages of life can lead to more egalitarian attitudes and stronger support for redistributive policies. In sum, this dissertation advances the understanding of how social environments shape distributive attitudes, offering insights into how inequality is perceived and addressed in contemporary societies.