Upholding the Social Hierarchy: Agency as a Predictor of the Ideal Level of Economic Inequality

Many societies are becoming more economically unequal, and some people tend to be in favor of higher levels of economic inequality than others do. Traditionally, agency has been associated with high-status and high-power groups. In this research, we examined whether participants' agency led them to think there should be higher levels of economic inequality. In Study 1 (N = 191), we used a correlational design and found that participants' agency is associated with higher levels of ideal economic inequality. In Study 2 (N = 204), using an experimental design, we revealed that priming agency (vs. communion) leads to higher levels of ideal economic inequality. These findings extend prior evidence on the psychological effects of agency and illustrate the connection between agency and the ideal levels of economic inequality.