IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/socsci/v91y2010i5p1405-1431.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Justifications of Inequality: The Normative Basis of Pay Differentials in 31 Nations

Author

Listed:
  • M. D. R. Evans
  • Jonathan Kelley
  • Clayton D. Peoples

Abstract

Objectives. We investigate social consensus and dissensus within and between nations in three important justifications for pay differences: family needs, performance on the job, and education/authority. Methods. Data are from 31 nations and 66,777 individual respondents analyzed using structural equation and multilevel regression methods with multiple imputation of missing data. Results. In poor countries, but not in rich, most believe that family needs legitimate higher pay. Within countries—particularly English‐speaking ones—low SES groups endorse family needs, but high SES groups reject them. Valuing performance and effort is widespread throughout the world and throughout all segments of society, high and low. Education and authority are widely valued, more in poor nations than in rich, with some demographic differences but few socioeconomic cleavages. Conclusions. There is conflict both within nations and between them as to whether need and education/authority justify unequal pay, but consensus that performance on the job does justify it.

Suggested Citation

  • M. D. R. Evans & Jonathan Kelley & Clayton D. Peoples, 2010. "Justifications of Inequality: The Normative Basis of Pay Differentials in 31 Nations," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 91(5), pages 1405-1431, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:socsci:v:91:y:2010:i:5:p:1405-1431
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1540-6237.2010.00738.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6237.2010.00738.x
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/j.1540-6237.2010.00738.x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Guillermina Jasso, 2021. "Linking Input Inequality and Outcome Inequality," Sociological Methods & Research, , vol. 50(3), pages 944-1005, August.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:socsci:v:91:y:2010:i:5:p:1405-1431. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0038-4941 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.