Every working-class man polled believed income equality would destroy work incentive

Evidence

But most important of all, equality, at least equality of income, would deprive people of the goals of life. Every one of the 15 clients with whom I spent my evenings for seven months believed that equality of income would deprive men of their incentive to work, achieve, and develop their skills. — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 2250 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Since the writings of Marx in 1848, it has been assumed that the drive for a more equalitarian society, its effective social force, would come from the stratum of society with the most to gain, the working classes. This was thought to be the revolutionary force in the world—the demand of workers for a classless society sparked by their hostility to the owning classes. It was to be the elite among the workers, not the lumpenproletariat, not the “scum,” who were to advance this movement. Just as “liberty” was the central slogan of the bourgeois revolution, so “equality” was the central concept in the working class movement. Hence it was natural to assume that whatever gains have been made in equalizing the income and status of men in our society came about largely from working class pressure. — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 2137 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Working-class respondents universally saw equal incomes as destroying life’s incentive — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 2250; Working-class men would fear and resent genuine equality of status — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 2233; Even working-class men justify income inequality as necessary incentive (+6 more)

Broader Connections

• Working-class respondents universally saw equal incomes as destroying life’s incentive #corroborates (0.97) — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 2250
• Marxists assumed working-class pressure drove all egalitarian gains #complicates (0.74) — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 2137