High status groups and social solidarity: socio-psychological determinants of support for social equality among the highly-educated/Grupe visokog statusa i drustvena solidarnost: ocijalno-psiholoske odrednice podrske socijalnoj jednakosti kod visokoobrazovanih

The aim of the study was to predict support for social equality among individuals of high social status based on socio-psychological variables. The study was conducted on a sample of highly-educated Croatian citizens (N=332). The results confirmed the predicted hypotheses. Perception of higher social status instability, greater social inequality, larger potential for making social changes, and higher egalitarian values predict stronger support for social equality. Relation between status instability and equality support is partially mediated by perception of greater social inequality. Perception of material threat contributes to support for social equality both directly, by enhancing a motivation for ensuring own future, and indirectly, by evoking a perception that others have similar needs. The results provide an insight to unexplored determinants of social solidarity among high status groups and give some guidelines how to draw citizens' attention to the importance of social support programs. Key words: support for social equality, status instability, social inequality, egalitarianism, high status groups. Cilj rada bio je ispitati doprinos socijalno-psiholoskih varijabli u objasnjenju podrske socijalnoj jednakosti kod pojedinaca visokog socijalnog statusa. Istrazivanje je provedeno na uzorku visokoobrazovanih gradana Hrvatske (N=332). Rezultati su potvrdili postavljene hipoteze. Percipiranje vece nestabilnosti vlastitog socijalnog statusa, vece drustvene nejednakosti i vece mogucnosti utjecaja na drustvene promjene, kao i vise egalitarne vrijednosti predvidaju vecu podrsku socijalnoj jednakosti. Povezanost nestabilnosti statusa i podrske jednakosti djelomicno je posredovana percepcijom vece nejednakosti u drustvu. Dozivljaj materijalne ugrozenosti doprinosi podrsci jednakosti izravno, motivom za osiguranjem vlastite buducnosti, i neizravno, jer osvjestava pojedinca da i drugi imaju slicne potrebe. Rezultati daju uvid u nedovoljno istrazene odrednice drustvene solidarnosti kod grupa visokog statusa i pruzaju smjernice za povecanje svijesti gradana o vaznosti programa socijalne podrske. Kljucne rijeci: podrska socijalnoj jednakosti, nestabilnost statusa, socijalna nejednakost, egalitarizam, grupe visokog statusa.