URPP Public lecture by Marius Busemeyer

This talk will showcase recent research on the importance of subjective perceptions of inequality and their linkages to policy preferences and political behavior. In a first step, Marius Busemeyer will discuss commonly found biases in subjective perceptions of inequality such as the ‚centrist bias‘, biased perceptions of wealth and affluence as well as overly pessimistic perceptions of long-term trends in inequality. In a second step, he will show to what extent these biases are relevant for the formation of preferences and political attitudes. Here, it is of particular importance to highlight the role of subjective perceptions relative to objective reality. As empirical foundation, the talk relies on novel survey data from ongoing research projects at the Konstanz Cluster of Excellence on the „Politics of Inequality“. To preview some major findings and take-aways, Busemeyer and his co-authors find that subjective perceptions of inequality are systematically linked to individual partisan ideology, that perceptions can influence individual willingness to support future-oriented social investment policies and that perceptions may drive support for right-wing populism.