Men of wealth reject equality partly because status competition gives their lives meaning.

Evidence

The fact of the matter is that these men, by and large, prefer an inequalitarian society, and even prefer a society graced by some men of great wealth. As they look out upon the social scene, they feel that an equalitarian society would present them with too many problems of moral adjustment, interpersonal social adjustment, and motivational adjustment which they fear and dislike. But perhaps, most important, their life goals are structured around achievement and success in monetary terms. If these were taken away, life would be a desert. These men view the possibility of an equalitarian world as a paraphrased version of Swinburne’s lines on Jesus Christ, “Thou hast conquered, oh pale equalitarian, and the world has grown gray with thy breath.” — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 2264

Categorization

• XREF: Links to the status-anxiety and self-esteem literature on inequality; also resonates with the just-world belief research and the ‘tall poppy’ findings in the reader’s political psychology reading. — connects to: Gender equality threatens men’s identity by eliminating status difference — Nyla R. Branscombe and Bertjan Doosje (eds.), Collective Guilt: International…, 584
• SEED: An essay angle: ‘Why the rich resist equality — monetary competition as life’s organizing meaning,’ drawing on the observation that equalization threatens identity, not just pocketbooks.