Comparison of the Effectiveness of Methods for Measuring Perceived Economic Inequality in the Russian Sociocultural Context

To date, a large body or research has been accumulated on the topic of economic inequality. Assessments of the perceived level of economic inequality make a significant contribution to social behavior, such as willingness to support initiatives aimed at reducing inequality. However, there is no consensus among researchers on the methods used to assess perceived economic inequality, and the previously identified classes of methods show that each of them has both advantages and disadvantages. The purpose of this paper is to test the effectiveness of various methods for measuring the features of perception of economic inequality in the Russian sociocultural context, using data from 761 respondents ( M age = 36.58, SD age = 10.85). The internal validity is measured by the relationship among the assessments of different methods. The external validity is measured based on the relationship between the obtained assessments and the willingness to justify the existing system, as well as with the support of various procedures and initiatives aimed at reducing inequality (support for a universal basic income and support for the introduction of progressive taxation). Of all the methods tested (3 direct inequality assessment tasks, 2 alternative choice tasks, task of accordance and a self-categorization task), representations of inequality in consumption and self-categorization in social hierarchy have been found to be the most effective ways to assess perceived inequality. Using more effective methods for measuring perceived economic inequality, it is possible to increase the measurement accuracy, make the findings of the work more valid and facilitate comparison of results from different studies.