Strategic, Yet Inadvertent – and Potentially Counterproductive: How Laypeople Frame Inequality to Signal (Il)legitimacy

Perceived legitimacy—a key predictor of responses to inequality—is influenced by systematic variations in how inequality is described (“framing”). We examined subtle variations in how laypeople frame inequality to communicate (il)legitimacy. Participants (N=419) received factual information about economic inequality and summarized it twice with two different communication goals: to present the inequality as legitimate and as illegitimate. We found no evidence of participants focusing more on poor people’s disadvantages than on rich people’s advantages to signal illegitimacy, even though research suggests that this may be a promising strategy. Instead, participants referenced specific groups (e.g., the poor) more and abstract constructs (e.g., poverty) less to communicate illegitimacy, yet were mostly unaware of doing so. In a follow-up study, participants (N=396) judged statements meant to communicate illegitimacy as actually indicating higher, not lower, legitimacy beliefs. Thus, lay participants strategically, but inadvertently, framed inequality in ways that may actually backfire.