Probably not explicitly, but people might attach more emotional weight to “nearby” economic changes. Maybe benefits to the relatively rich feel far off, while benefits to the relatively poor feel like a risk of being overtaken?
Psychological—The lower middle class aspire to be wealthy.
This strikes me as an extension of signaling. The boundary between signaling something and believing something can get pretty fuzzy.
Maybe benefits to the relatively rich feel far off, while benefits to the relatively poor feel like a risk of being overtaken?
This sound like the last-place aversion discussed in the post. I agree that there could be a negative affect toward `falling into last place’, but I don’t think people are worried about not being able to afford as much stuff. The former is intuitive, while the latter requires knowledge of economics, which simply isn’t common knowledge in our society.
Probably not explicitly, but people might attach more emotional weight to “nearby” economic changes. Maybe benefits to the relatively rich feel far off, while benefits to the relatively poor feel like a risk of being overtaken?
This strikes me as an extension of signaling. The boundary between signaling something and believing something can get pretty fuzzy.
This sound like the last-place aversion discussed in the post. I agree that there could be a negative affect toward `falling into last place’, but I don’t think people are worried about not being able to afford as much stuff. The former is intuitive, while the latter requires knowledge of economics, which simply isn’t common knowledge in our society.