Working-class respondents universally saw equal incomes as destroying life’s 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

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to system justification theory — the book’s broader theme that even disadvantaged groups defend the status quo, and to the author’s other work on meritocratic beliefs. — connects to: Working-class people desire welfare-state measures while fearing equality itself. — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology: Key Readings, 2139
• QUESTION: Did every one of 15 working-class interviewees genuinely reach this conclusion independently, or is there a framing effect in how the question was posed?