Inequality Assessments: Construction and Validity Evidence of the Economic Inequality Representations Scale

Recent research indicates that people’s assessment of inequality is influenced by everyday contact with manifestations of disparity, with greater cognitive involvement among lower social strata. Information about inequality is stored, forming mental representations of inequality, a network of concepts that aid in processing new examples. However, no psychometric scale has been found that uses everyday examples to assess representations of inequality. Thus, this research aims to construct and present evidence of the validity of a scale focused on mental representations of economic inequality. The study was conducted with a sample of 1500 participants randomly divided into two data frames. A single-factor structure was identified and confirmed in both data frames, with good reliability indices (α = .88, Ω = .87) and distinctions between social classes. The measure presented evidence of convergent validity and was a negative predictor of support for economic inequality, offering an alternative instrument for studying inequality.