Abstract (EN)

This policy brief presents a novel way to understand the often observed disconnect between low-income citizens’ concerns about high inequality and a lack of demand for redistribution, using the case of South Africa. The proposed mechanism underlying the lack of demand for change is the perceived inevitability of the large gap between the rich and the poor. Providing urban low-income individuals an international comparison of inequality in South Africa with other countries reduces their perception that high inequality is inevitable and significantly increases the demand for government to engage in redistributive policies. The demand for redistribution, and the willingness to engage in civil action to achieve it, may first require the belief that change itself is possible.