Study: The more unequal society the less the poor want redistribution
This article investigates how income inequality affects class differences in attitudes to redistribution. Drawing on the fourth wave (2008-09) of the European Values Study, it provides a multilevel analysis covering 44 nations. The main finding is that class differences in attitudes to redistribution tend to fade out in more unequal countries, not because higher classes converge toward more proredistributive positions, but because working class people become less egalitarian.
From the conclusions:
This study revealed two key findings: 1) class differences in attitudes to redistribution fade out where inequality is higher; 2) the shrinkage of class differences is attributable to people in manual occupations becoming more similar to people in higher classes (i.e., less egalitarian, more meritocratic).
Full text: https://iris.unito.it/retrieve/handle/2318/1564280/141843/More%20inequality%20fewer%20class%20differences%20x%20Iris.pdf