The Relationship And Mechanism Of Subjective Income Inequality And General Trust

The gap between the rich and the poor and the crisis of trust are two serious practical problems that China is facing at present.Although previous studies have explored the relationship between income inequality and trust,they mainly focus on objective income inequality and lack of attention to subjective income inequality.Although previous studies have discussed the relationship between income inequality and trust,they mainly focus on the objective income inequality,lack of attention to the subjective income inequality,and the empirical research is far from enough.The belief in a just world(BJW)is the cognition of individuals to the justice of the environment in which they live.Rising levels of income inequality may cause people to question whether they deserve their gains and thus reduce positive expectations of behaviour.Competition emphasizes the opposition between each other.In the context of competition,people are more likely to make social comparisons and pay more attention to whether the result of income distribution is deserved or not.Therefore,this study believes that subjective income inequality is negatively correlated with general trust,and subjective income inequality reduces general trust by reducing the belief in a just world,and the above hypothesis is more likely to be true in the competitive situation.Based on this,this paper intends to explore the relationship between subjective income inequality and general trust and its internal mechanism through three studies.In study 1,CGSS(2015)social survey data was used to preliminarily investigate the correlation and mediating mechanism between subjective income inequality and general trust.The results show that the degree of subjective income inequality negatively predicts general trust,and belief in a just world plays an intermediary role in this relationship.In study 2,more standardized scales was used to verify again whether the relationship between subjective income inequality and general trust as well as its internal mechanism was still valid by taking people with work experience as subjects.The results show that subjective income inequality negatively predicts general trust,belief in a just world mediates the relationship between income inequality and general trust,and perceived competition negatively moderates the first half of the mediating mechanism of income inequality and general trust.In study 3,college students were taken as subjects to further investigate the causal relationship and mechanism of income inequality and general trust.The results show that under the condition of competition,the trust behavior of the subjects in the high-income inequality group in the trust game is significantly lower than that in the low-income inequality group.The results showed that under the condition of competition,the score of general trust of the subjects in the high-income inequality group was significantly lower than that in the low-income inequality group,and the relationship between income inequality and general trust was mediated by personal belief in the just world(PBJW),but the above conclusion was not true under the condition of low competition.The results of this study show that subjective income inequality reduces general trust by reducing belief in a just world.The effect of subjective income inequality on general trust is more significant in the competitive situation.This study explains the psychological mechanism of income inequality affecting general trust from the subjective level of individuals,and complements the deficiencies of previous empirical studies.This paper explores the boundary conditions of "income inequality affects general trust",which not only deepens and expands the research on the relationship between income inequality and general trust,but also helps to understand people’s cognition and social mentality of income distribution in different economic environments,so as to provide reference for social management decisions.