Aspirations, Inequality and Social Conflict

这项研究项目研究社会冲突和经济不平等。经济不平等往往导致社会冲突，而社会冲突反过来又对经济具有破坏性。经济不平等和社会冲突之间的关系是复杂的；社会冲突并不总是随着不平等而上升。虽然经济不平等增加了冲突的收益，但也增加了冲突的成本。目前尚不清楚为什么不平等会在一个背景下导致社会冲突和经济破坏，而不是在另一个背景下。这项研究项目结合了经济学、心理学和其他社会科学的见解，开发了一种理论来解释经济不平等和社会冲突之间的关系。几个社会和政治冲突(现象)可以用这个模型来解释。了解社会冲突可能采取的形式对学者和政策制定者都很重要，他们可能会制定更好的政策来减轻这种不平等的影响。通过对社会冲突的来源和如何减少冲突提供有力的解释，本研究项目将为减少社会冲突从而促进经济增长和繁荣的政策提供投入。本研究项目将社会依赖愿望理论扩展到经济不平等和社会冲突的研究。社会环境通过将个人抱负设定为成就和失败之间的门槛来影响个人的偏好。个人的成长可以通过实现他们的愿望来促进，但如果他们的愿望不能实现，也可能会受挫。由于愿望是由社会环境产生的，这导致了经济发展的分配特征和个人行为之间的相互作用。在相对适度的不平等情况下，愿望是可以实现的，并且需要花费资源来实现；当不平等程度很高时，代理人放弃实现他们的经济愿望，转向他们愿望向量的其他组成部分。该理论模型可以解释为什么直接阶级冲突是相对罕见的现象。这项研究将把这一概念应用于当代社会冲突和其他现象的研究，如种族主义和仇外心理。这一研究项目的结果将有助于更好地了解社会冲突的根源，并为减少冲突的政策提供意见。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This research project studies social conflict and economic inequality. Economic inequality often leads to social conflicts which in turn is destructive of the economy. The relationship between economic inequality and social conflict is complex; social conflict does not always rise with inequality. While economic inequality increases the gain from conflict, it also increases the cost of such conflict. It is not clear why inequality leads to social conflict and economic destruction on one context and not another. This research project combines insights from economics, psychology, and other social sciences to develop a theory to explain the relationship between economic inequality and social conflict. Several social and political conflicts (phenomena) can be explained with this model. Understanding the forms social conflict can take is of importance to academics as well as policy makers who may craft better policies to mitigate the effects of such inequalities. By providing a robust explanation of the sources of social conflicts and how to reduce them, this research project will provide inputs into policies to reduce social conflicts and hence increase economic growth and prosperity.This research project extends the theory of socially dependent aspirations to the study of economic inequality and social conflict. Social surroundings affect individual's preferences through the setting of individual aspirations as the threshold between achievement and failure. Individual's growth can be enhanced by achieving their aspirations but may also be frustrated if the aspirations are not achievable. Because aspirations are generated by social surroundings, this leads to the interplay between the distributional character of economic development and individual behavior. With relatively moderate inequality, aspirations are achievable, and resources are expended to achieve them; when inequality is high agents give up on achieving their economic aspirations and turn to other components of their aspirations vector. The theoretical model can explain why direct class conflict is a relatively rare phenomenon. This research will apply this concept to the study of contemporary social conflicts and other phenomena, such as racism and xenophobia. The results of this research project will provide a better understanding of the sources of social conflicts and provide inputs into policies to reduce them.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.