Belief in Meritocracy Reexamined: Scrutinizing the Role of Subjective Social Mobility

Despite decreasing intergenerational mobility, strengthening the ties between family background and children’s economic outcomes, Western citizens continue to believe in meritocracy. We study how meritocratic beliefs about success relate individuals’ social mobility experiences: Is subjective upward associated with attributions of downward structuralist views? Whereas previous studies addressed relevance current position or objective we leverage diagonal reference models disentangle role origin, destination. Surveying a representative Dutch sample (n = 1,507), find, echoing Thomas theorem, that if people experience as real, it is real its consequences: stronger beliefs, beliefs—but has no bearing on people’s meritocracy beliefs. This helps understand muted political response growing inequality: small share upwardly mobile individuals may suffice uphold public faith