IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/socsci/v85y2004i3p827-853.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Race/Ethnicity and Beliefs about Wealth and Poverty

Author

Listed:
  • Matthew O. Hunt

Abstract

Objective. Lay explanations for “wealth” have been neglected in research on beliefs about social stratification. This study compares the nature and determinants of beliefs about the causes of both wealth and poverty, with special focus on race/ethnic differences. Methods. Using survey data collected from Los Angeles County residents in 2000, descriptive and multivariate procedures are used to analyze “individualistic” and “structuralist” beliefs about wealth and poverty. In addition, one “fatalistic” belief, asking about the role of “God's will” in shaping wealth and poverty, is examined. Analyses test (1) whether race/ethnicity and other social and political characteristics variables shape these stratification beliefs, and (2) whether African Americans, Latinos, and whites differ in the determinants of beliefs about wealth and poverty. Results. Respondents favor individualistic over structuralist reasons for wealth, but favor structuralist over individualistic beliefs in explaining poverty. Fatalistic beliefs are least popular. On beliefs about wealth, African Americans, Latinos, and whites show similar levels of support for individualistic explanations; however, the race/ethnic minorities are both more structuralist than whites on this issue. On beliefs about poverty, the race/ethnic minorities are simultaneously more structuralist and more individualistic than are whites. Social‐class identification and self‐reported conservatism both significantly impact beliefs about wealth and poverty, and do so differently across race/ethnic lines. Conclusions. Findings support the separate treatment and examination of beliefs about wealth and poverty, and reinforce recent calls for greater attention to “nonwhites” in studies of sociopolitical attitudes.

Suggested Citation

  • Matthew O. Hunt, 2004. "Race/Ethnicity and Beliefs about Wealth and Poverty," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 85(3), pages 827-853, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:socsci:v:85:y:2004:i:3:p:827-853
    DOI: 10.1111/j.0038-4941.2004.00247.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0038-4941.2004.00247.x
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/j.0038-4941.2004.00247.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. Yul Davids & Amanda Gouws, 2013. "Monitoring Perceptions of the Causes of Poverty in South Africa," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 110(3), pages 1201-1220, February.
    2. Jose Antonio R. Clemente & Mary Angeline A. Daganzo & Allan B. I. Bernardo & Cheila Alexis C. Pangan, 2017. "Filipino Adolescents’ Conceptions of Socioeconomic Mobility: a Consensual Qualitative Research," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 10(1), pages 117-140, March.
    3. Jan-Emmanuel De Neve & Filip Gesiarz & Tali Sharot, 2019. "The motivational cost of inequality: pay gaps reduce the willingness to pursue rewards," CEP Discussion Papers dp1664, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    4. Halik, Murnizam & Webley, Paul, 2011. "Adolescents' understanding of poverty and the poor in rural Malaysia," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 231-239, March.
    5. Voss, Kim & Silva, Fabiana, 2013. "So Goes the Nation? A preliminary report on how immigration is reshaping the identities of workers in California," Institute for Research on Labor and Employment, Working Paper Series qt1js6r75p, Institute of Industrial Relations, UC Berkeley.
    6. Şansel Özpinar & Sacit Hadi Akdede, 2022. "Determinants of the Attribution of Poverty in Turkey: An Empirical Analysis," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 164(2), pages 949-967, November.
    7. Filip Gesiarz & Jan-Emmanuel De Neve & Tali Sharot, 2020. "The motivational cost of inequality: Opportunity gaps reduce the willingness to work," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(9), pages 1-18, September.
    8. Victor R. Thompson & Lawrence D. Bobo, 2011. "Thinking about Crime: Race and Lay Accounts of Lawbreaking Behavior," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 634(1), pages 16-38, March.

    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:85:y:2004:i:3:p:827-853. 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.