Perceived levels of economic inequality in everyday life increase citizens’ willingness to engage in collective action

Economic inequality is on the rise worldwide and represents one of the greatest challenges facing individuals and societies today. However, the relationship between the degree of economic inequality and citizens' support for actions aimed at reducing it appears to be close to negligible. Therefore, the aim of the present research was to shed light on a potential pathway for effectively mobilising citizens to address economic inequality and promote social change: perceived levels of economic inequality in individuals' everyday life. Across two pre-registered cross-sectional studies (N = 906) conducted in different countries (Italy and Spain), a link between perceptions of economic inequality in everyday life and willingness to engage in collective and political action emerged. Importantly, an experimental study (N = 583) allowed us to corroborate these correlational findings. Results showed that in the salience of economic inequality in everyday life condition participants were more likely to engage in collective action aimed at redressing economic inequality and to manifest intention to vote, compared to a control condition. Implications and avenues for future research are discussed.