Abstract
Research on economic inequality has traditionally relied on macro-level indices, though a growing body of work examines how economic inequality is perceived in everyday life. Whether different forms of everyday encounters carry different political and psychological consequences remains unclear. Across four studies with London-based samples (N = 1,554), we used a situation-sampling approach to identify forms of real-world inequality encounters and test how they relate to appraisal, redistribution support, and psychological distress. Study 1 identified two forms of inequality: Structural Inequality, describing disparities in essential goods and institutions, and Lifestyle Inequality, involving differences in consumption, leisure, and social participation. Study 2 showed that Structural situations were perceived as more unequal and unfair and elicited stronger redistribution support than Lifestyle Inequality situations. Study 3a, reported in Supplementary Materials, showed that greater redistribution support for Structural Inequality situations was largely carried through greater perceived unfairness. Study 3b modelled Structural and Lifestyle Inequality content continuously: Structural Inequality was linked to redistribution support and distress through unfairness, whereas Lifestyle Inequality was linked to distress through upward social comparison. The political and psychological consequences of inequality therefore depend on the form of encounter, not only on its perceived magnitude.