Anti‐egalitarianism motivates denial of male privilege

Abstract

Men are privileged economically, politically, and socially, yet some deny this. Previous research suggests that denial of privilege can help to manage the discomfort associated with a privileged identity, but we propose that it serves primarily to preserve privilege. In two preregistered studies (Ntotal = 911 Australian participants) we show that denial of male privilege is not unique to men and that it is strongly predicted by anti‐egalitarianism, even when controlling for gender and other variables known to predict attitudes toward inequality (facets of right‐wing authoritarianism and social dominance orientation). In Study 1, a multiple regression model accounted for 59% of the variability in reported male privilege awareness, with anti‐egalitarianism contributing 47% of the explanatory power. In Study 2, the explanatory power of anti‐egalitarianism was more modest (26%) and similar to that of gender (27%), and both also positively predicted claims of female privilege. This suggests that rather than simply reflecting unawareness of male privilege or being a way to manage a privileged identity, denying the existence of male privilege and claiming that women are privileged helps to preserve gender inequality by presenting it as a just result of meritocracy.