Graduation Year

2024

Graduation Month

May

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

School or Department

Sociology

Major

Sociology – Inequality and Social Justice

Faculty Mentor Department

Sociology

Faculty Mentor

James Tuttle

Faculty Reader(s)

Daisy Rooks

Keywords

welfare, redistribution, race, gender, education

Subject Categories

Inequality and Stratification | Politics and Social Change | Sociology

Abstract

Income and wealth inequality in the United States have skyrocketed since the 1970s, making the country increasingly unequal (Ashok et al. 2015; Hout 2021; Lee 2023). Researchers disagree on whether overall support for redistribution in the United States has changed in the last several decades (Ashok et al. 2015; Lee 2023; Pittau et al. 2016) but recent studies suggest the country has seen a significant political realignment based on race and education, influencing support for redistribution (Kitschelt and Rehm 2019). Much of the literature on redistributive attitudes exists in political science or economics and/or explores fewer dependent variables of race, gender, or education (Bullock 2020; Foster 2008; Inniss and Sittig 1996; Pittau et al. 2016). This study employs an intersectional lens to investigate the relationships between race, gender, education, and American redistributive attitudes over time. I use two questions in the General Social Survey (GSS) to examine general preferences for redistribution and welfare-specific attitudes from 1973-2018, accounting for the racialized political meaning of the term “welfare” (Alesina and Glaser 2004; Foster 2008). This research provides a much-needed updated sociological analysis, asking: how do intersecting identities interact with American attitudes toward welfare and redistribution over time?

Honors College Research Project

Yes

GLI Capstone Project

no

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