How Do People Perceive Inequality? with Juan Diego García-Castro

Hosts:
Marius R. Busemeyer – Professor of Comparative Political Economy at the University of Konstanz and Speaker of the Cluster of Excellence “Politics of Inequality”.

Gabriele Spilker – Professor of Global Inequality and Co-Speaker of the Excellence Cluster of Excellence “The Politics of Inequality”.

Guest:
Juan Diego García-Castro - Professor of Social Psychology at the Universidad de Costa Rica and Associated Researcher at COES, Chile. 

è His work explores injustice evaluations, social comparisons, and ideological narratives surrounding inequality and violence—particularly in Latin America.

Episode Summary

In this episode, we explore how people perceive inequalities: Why do they often fail to grasp the true scale of inequality? What shapes our understanding of who has more, who has less, and why?

Social psychologist Juan Diego García-Castro shares insights from his research in Latin America and beyond, highlighting how our environments, ideologies, and social networks influence what we perceive—and justify.

Key Topics Discussed

1.      Why Inequality Is Hard to Perceive

2.      Daily Experience vs. Data

3.      The Power of Ideology

4.      Cultural and Contextual Differences

5.      Perceptions and Political Behavior

Links & Resources:

·       More about the Cluster of Excellence “The Politics of Inequality”

·       Further Readings:

o   Busemeyer, Marius R.; Jäger, Felix; Baute, Sharon (2025). On the Sidelines?: The Relationship Between Perceptions of Inequality and Political Participation. Policy Paper Series No. 19. Cluster of Excellence „The Politics of Inequality“. 

o   Busemeyer, Marius R. et al. (2023). Gloomy prospects: The Konstanz Inequality Barometer shows that inequality is perceived to have increased. Policy Paper Series No. 12. Cluster of Excellence “The Politics of Inequality”. 

o   García-Castro, Juan Diego; Venegas Márquez, Martin; Pérez-Ahumada, Pablo (2024). Trust in unions drive egalitarianism: Longitudinal evidence. Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology, Vol. 34, Issue 4. 

o   García-Castro, Juan Diego; Rodríguez-Bailón, Rosa; Willis, Guillermo B. (2020). Perceiving economic inequality in everyday life decreases tolerance to inequality. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, Vol. 90.

Mehr über den Exzellenzcluster „The Politics of Inequality“.

More about the Cluster of Excellence “The Politics of Inequality”

Kontakt: cluster.inequality@uni-konstanz.de

Contact: cluster.inequality@uni-konstanz.de

Transcript

In_equality Podcast Episode 3: „How Do People Perceive Inequality?“ with Juan Diego García-Castro

Gabriele Spilker: Welcome to our Inequality Podcast.  

My name is Gabriele Spilker. I'm the co-speaker of the Cluster of Excellence “The Politics of Inequality”, and Professor of International Politics with a focus on Global Inequality.  And I’m joined by my colleague, Marius R. Busemeyer.

Marius R. Busemeyer: Hi, I’m Marius R. Busemeyer. I’m Professor of Comparative Political Economy and also a speaker of the Cluster “The Politics of Inequality”.  

Welcome to this new episode!

Gabriele Spilker: Today, we’re diving into one of the key concepts of our cluster’s framework, which we call the "Three Ps". What are these Three Ps? Our work is guided by a framework we refer to as the Three Ps cycle. To understand the politics of inequality, we need to explore how people Perceive inequality, how those perceptions influence Participation in politics, and how political Policies are shaped as a result—often feeding back into inequality itself.

Today, we’ll focus on the first “P”: Perceptions. To discuss this, we’ve invited a distinguished guest who is an expert in the psychology of how people perceive inequality. Welcome, Juan Diego García-Castro!

Juan Diego García-Castro: Thank you!

Gabriele Spilker: Juan Diego García-Castro is a Professor of Social Psychology at the Universidad de Costa Rica. He earned his PhD from Granada University in 2020, focusing on the psychosocial effects of perceived economic inequality in everyday life.

He later worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the Centro de Estudios de Conflicto y Cohesión Social (COES) in Chile, where he remains an associate researcher. His research explores injustice evaluations, social comparisons, ideology, and violence—particularly in Latin America. Juan Diego García-Castro is currently visiting us here at the Cluster in Germany—though only for two more weeks—so we’re especially excited to have this conversation while he’s here.

Let’s begin with what might sound like a simple question: What exactly are inequality perceptions? What do researchers mean when they talk about this concept?

Juan Diego García-Castro: Perception is a basic cognitive process—it’s how we gather information from the world around us. This could be anything, but when it comes to inequality, it refers to how people perceive the disparities in wealth or resources in their environment. People can often easily perceive inequality in their close surroundings—friends, family, places they visit regularly. But it’s much harder to perceive inequality at a broader level—like across an entire country.

Understanding abstract measures, like the Gini coefficient, or even just grasping how much more the rich have compared to the poor, is difficult. In contrast, people understand quite easily when a friend struggles to pay rent. What’s visible in daily life is easier to grasp than abstract societal structures.

Marius R. Busemeyer: That’s really interesting. So, you think inequality is especially difficult to perceive because of its abstract nature—unlike something like economic growth or even welfare policies, which people experience more directly?

Juan Diego García-Castro: Exactly. People don’t usually compare the top 20% to the bottom 80% in their daily lives. But they do notice when a neighbor is struggling or when schools are underfunded. These everyday experiences influence how people react to inequality more than abstract comparisons.

Gabriele Spilker: Does that mean that people who live in more diverse neighborhoods—where they interact with both poorer and wealthier individuals—might develop a different understanding of inequality than those in more homogeneous environments?

Juan Diego García-Castro: Yes, definitely. But most people live in fairly homogenous social environments—same income group, same class. This limits their exposure to inequality, which can lead to beliefs that justify the status quo—like meritocracy. If everyone around you is similar, you might assume people get what they deserve.

Marius R. Busemeyer: That seems like a big challenge for the politics of inequality. Poor people often compare themselves only to other poor people, so they don’t necessarily perceive themselves as poor. Meanwhile, wealthy individuals assume most people are doing just fine because their circles are also wealthy. And when it comes to something like extreme wealth—think Elon Musk—that's just so far outside everyday experience, people can't really process it. So, they underestimate how unequal society really is.

Juan Diego García-Castro: Exactly. That’s a key issue. People misperceive the actual extent of inequality. But as researchers, we can intervene. When we give people factual information about real inequality levels in their country or city, their perceptions shift—and they’re more likely to support redistributive policies.

Gabriele Spilker: So what shapes inequality perceptions? How do people come to form these mental images of inequality?

Juan Diego García-Castro: Perceptions are shaped by psychological processes, but also by socialization. From a young age, we learn values from parents, schools, media—these become attitudes and perceptions. Ideology plays a big role too.

People on the political left typically perceive more inequality than those on the right. And ideologies like meritocracy or system justification shape how people view inequality. These beliefs are reinforced daily—at work, in schools, through media.

Marius R. Busemeyer: When you say “ideology,” what exactly do you mean?

Juan Diego García-Castro: In psychology, ideology refers to the set of beliefs people hold to explain what’s happening in society. For inequality, this includes ideas like meritocracy—that people get what they deserve—or system justification—the belief that society is fundamentally fair and should stay as it is.

Gabriele Spilker: Is that connected to the *just-world* belief? The idea that people want to believe the world is fair?

Juan Diego García-Castro: Absolutely. People want to believe that effort leads to success and that bad outcomes must have explanations. It gives us a sense of control. But this belief also leads people to justify inequality—and that’s a barrier to change.

Marius R. Busemeyer: So if people need to view inequality as unfair in order to support change, what triggers that shift in perception?

Juan Diego García-Castro: First, we need to distinguish between perception and evaluation. People see inequality, but then they evaluate whether it’s fair or not. Education, ideology, and cultural context shape those evaluations. Interestingly, higher-educated individuals often perceive inequality more accurately. That’s because they tend to have broader social networks and access to more diverse information. In contrast, those with fewer resources often don’t have the exposure needed to fully grasp inequality—even if they are most affected by it.

Marius R. Busemeyer: That’s a real dilemma. The people most affected by inequality may be the least equipped to perceive it clearly, while those who benefit are more aware—but may lack the incentive to support change.

Juan Diego García-Castro: It is a dilemma. But through research and awareness, we can begin to change this. That’s part of our mission—to break the cycle of justified inequality.

Gabriele Spilker: Let’s talk about culture and context. You’ve worked in Costa Rica, Chile, and now in Europe. How does context shape inequality perceptions?

Juan Diego García-Castro: We’ve found that cultures with high social mobility and openness—like many Hispanic cultures—are better at perceiving inequality. In contrast, cultures with tight social circles, like Japan, tend to perceive less inequality.

Latin America is a fascinating case: high levels of inequality, strong perceptions of unfairness, and frequent mobilization. But also severe repression from elites. It’s a region where inequality profoundly shapes identity and society.

Marius R. Busemeyer: If a majority thinks inequality is unfair, and people regularly protest, why is it so persistent—especially in democratic countries?

Juan Diego García-Castro: Because elites resist change. Even progressive governments may reduce poverty temporarily but don’t fundamentally shift inequality. Often, social movements are repressed, activists are jailed or threatened, and elites maintain structures that benefit them. That’s why research and policy advocacy are so important.

Gabriele Spilker: Do people care more about inequality—or about poverty? They’re not the same, even though they’re related.

Juan Diego García-Castro: It’s easier for people to care about poverty—it’s tangible and evokes sympathy. Inequality, by contrast, involves complex comparisons. But the two are connected. Often, concern about poverty implicitly includes concern about inequality, even if people don’t realize it.

Marius R. Busemeyer: And looking ahead—what are the key questions for future research?

Juan Diego García-Castro: The big one is: How do we mobilize people for change? We need to better understand how to shift attitudes toward more egalitarian views—and challenge ideologies like meritocracy or system justification. We also need to include voices from the Global South in global research efforts.

Gabriele Spilker: Thank you so much, Juan Diego García-Castro. This was a fascinating conversation.

Marius R. Busemeyer: Absolutely, thanks for being here, and thanks, Gabriele, as always.

Gabriele Spilker: And to our listeners—if you enjoyed this episode, subscribe to our channel! We release a new episode every first Wednesday of the month. Looking forward to having you with us next time.  Thank you!

(This transcript was created using AI.)