While some scholars suggest that awareness of income inequality is strongest when the actual level of inequality is high, others find that individuals’ awareness of income inequality is largely unresponsive to actual inequality. In this article, we argue that individuals in different social class positions often respond to the actual levels of income inequality distinctively, and therefore a class perspective is essential in understanding how actual inequality and people’s perceptions of it are associated. Using data from the social inequality modules of the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP, 1992, 1999, and 2009) as well as the World Income Inequality Database (https://www.wider.unu.edu/) and the World Inequality Database (https://wid.world/), we consider how actual inequality interacts with social class to shape people’s perceptions of income inequality across 64 country-years between 1992 and 2009. We find that overall, perceptions of inequality are higher among the working class and lower among salariats. However, cross-nationally and over time, as the actual level of inequality increases, working classes become less critical toward inequality, whereas salariats become more critical. The actual level of inequality itself has no impact on people’s discontent toward it. This creates a counterbalancing effect that obscures the aggregate relationship between rising inequality and people’s perceptions of it.

一些学者认为，当实际不平等程度较高时，人们对收入不平等的认识最为强烈，而另一些学者则发现，个人对收入不平等的认识在很大程度上对实际不平等没有反应。在本文中，我们认为处于不同社会阶层地位的个人通常会对收入不平等的实际水平做出不同的反应，因此阶级视角对于理解实际不平等与人们对它的看法之间的关系至关重要。使用来自国际社会调查计划（ISSP，1992、1999 和 2009）以及世界收入不平等数据库（https://www.wider.unu.edu/）和世界不平等数据库的社会不平等模块的数据(https://wid.world/), 我们考虑了 1992 年至 2009 年间 64 个国家/地区的实际不平等如何与社会阶层相互作用，从而影响人们对收入不平等的看法。我们发现，总体而言，工人阶级对不平等的看法较高，而工薪阶层较低。然而，在跨国范围内，随着时间的推移，随着实际不平等程度的增加，工人阶级对不平等的批评变得不那么重要，而薪水变得更加重要。不平等的实际程度本身并不会影响人们对它的不满。这产生了一种平衡效应，掩盖了日益加剧的不平等与人们对它的看法之间的总体关系。跨国家和随着时间的推移，随着实际不平等程度的增加，工人阶级对不平等的批评变得不那么重要，而薪水变得更加重要。不平等的实际程度本身并不会影响人们对它的不满。这产生了一种平衡效应，掩盖了日益加剧的不平等与人们对它的看法之间的总体关系。跨国家和随着时间的推移，随着实际不平等程度的增加，工人阶级对不平等的批评变得不那么重要，而薪水变得更加重要。不平等的实际程度本身并不会影响人们对它的不满。这产生了一种平衡效应，掩盖了日益加剧的不平等与人们对它的看法之间的总体关系。