THE LEGITIMATION OF INEQUALITY - OCCUPATIONAL EARNINGS IN 9 NATIONS

Comprehensive data on public beliefs about the legitimacy of income in equality gathered from large, representative national sample surveys i n nine nations conducted by the International Social Survey Programme show: (1) broad agreement on the legitimate pay of low-status, ordinar y jobs, (2) agreement that high-status, elite occupations should be pa id more than the minimum, but (3) disagreement over how much more they should get. This disagreement is linked to politics and social struct ure, with older, high SES, politically conservative respondents prefer ring markedly higher pay for elite occupations, but usually not prefer ring lower pay for ordinary jobs.