Explaining inequality tolerance in the lab: effects of political efficacy and prospects of mobility on collective demand for redistribution.

The low public demand for redistribution despite growing economic inequality has been characterized as a paradox especially for disadvantaged individuals. One prominent explanation for people's tolerance to growing inequality posits that increased optimism about prospects of upward mobility undermines support for redistribution. A less explored explanation postulates that low political efficacy of disadvantaged individuals to enact meaningful change erodes collective demand for redistribution. In two preregistered experiments, we create a dynamic environment where low-income individuals collectively demand income redistribution by contributing to a public pool (collective action strategy), compete with each other for high-income group positions (individual mobility strategy), or avoid risks and disengage from both strategies (social inaction strategy). Lack of political efficacy, operationalized as high redistribution thresholds, gradually curtailed collective action, while exposure to high prospects of mobility did not influence collective action even when income group boundaries were highly permeable. Across participants, we identified three behavioral types (i.e., "mobility seekers", "egalitarians", and "disillusioned") whose prevalence was affected by political efficacy but not by prospects of mobility or actual group permeability. These results cast doubt on the universality of the prospects of mobility hypothesis and highlight the prominent role of political inequality in the perpetuation of economic inequality.

Nostalgia and acculturation.

We identify three themes in the current research on nostalgia and acculturation. First, different types of nostalgia (i.e., home-culture and host-culture nostalgia) have distinct effects on immigrants' and sojourners' identification with home or host culture, affecting the integration of home and host cultural identities. Second, nostalgia during acculturation plays a crucial role in facilitating self-continuity among immigrants and sojourners moving across different cultures. Third, nostalgia affects the majority-group members' attitude towards immigrants and sojourners in the host culture. We conclude by highlighting three challenges for future research on nostalgia and acculturation: the content of types of nostalgia, the moderating role of individual differences, and the functions of nostalgia at various acculturation stages.

Inequality is in the air: contextual psychosocial effects of power and social class.

Social class and power inequalities are defining features of current societies and tend to influence several social psychological processes. Two types of consequences of social class and power inequalities can be differentiated: mechanical and contextual. Mechanical effects occur when inequality strengthens the relation between social class or power and a given outcome; conversely, contextual effects occur when inequality creates a social context that changes the relationship between social class or power and a given outcome. We exemplify these two different types of effects, focusing on the contextual ones, by analyzing the consequences of social class and power on a) status anxiety, b) the perception of society: social norms and mobility, and c) cohesion and social distance. Finally, we argue that perceived inequality and ideologies of inequality (e.g. economic system justification or social dominance orientation) might moderate these two described effects.