Concerns About Inequality in Health, Education and Income Jointly Predict Collective Actions

Abstract

Introduction: Income inequality is often tolerated and justified, but when it brings about disparities in other domains of life (e.g., health or education), it may be seen with different eyes. In this research, we aimed to explore concerns regarding economic inequality in health, education, and income, and its relationship to supporting collective actions to reduce inequality. Method: We used survey data (N = 20,204, 18 countries) from the Latinobarometer 2020. We conducted descriptive analyses, latent class analyses, and analyses of multilevel linear regression to test our hypothesis. Results: We found that people were more concerned about health access and education opportunities than income inequality. We also identified two classes of people: one class concerned about education and health and the other unconcerned about inequality in any domain. In addition, results showed that all concerns and class membership predicted greater support of collective actions to reduce inequality. Conclusions: These preliminary findings suggest that concerns about education and health disparities may serve to increase awareness of overall inequality and mobilise the public.