Social capital and equality: A causal analysis

The societal-level relationship between resource distributions and social capital (i.e., connections among individuals that inspire norms of trusting and helping) is well documented: As economic equality increases, so too does social capital. The two studies in this dissertation elucidate the social-psychological processes underlying the equality/social capital relationship and establish the relationship's causal nature. Experiment 1 tested the causal influence of equal versus unequal resource distributions on the formation of social capital. The results revealed that individuals who received a deficit of valuable resources reported significantly lower amounts of task-focused social capital than did individuals who received either equal or surplus amounts of the resources. Additionally, participants who received a deficit of resources reported significantly higher levels of negative social capital (i.e., general distrust) regarding the other individuals than did participants who received equal amounts of the resources. Mediation analyses revealed that the direct effects of unequal resource distributions on task capital and on negative capital were fully mediated by the experience of positive and negative affect among the participants; cognitive variables, such as perceptions of justice and levels of identification, had no mediating properties in the relationship. Experiment 2 tested the causal influence of low versus high levels of social capital on the equal or unequal distribution of valuable resources. Analyses revealed that the manipulation of social capital did not systematically predict the manner in which individuals distributed resources. In fact, 80% of the participants in this study equally distributed the resources among themselves and the other individuals involved, demonstrating the strong influence of well-established social norms of equity. Since the 1970s, America has seen a widening gap in economic resources and, jointly, a widening separation among its citizens; in response it becomes incumbent upon social scientists to explore the psychological mechanisms behind citizens either coming together or separating. In sum, the results of these two studies suggest that unequal resource distributions lead to lower levels of positive emotions and to higher levels of negative emotions, and that these affective experiences predict an individual's disengagement from socially-relevant tasks and his or her distrust in other, better-off, individuals.