What underlies the Great Gatsby Curve? Psychological micro-foundations of the vicious circle of poverty Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • 2014, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg. Societies with a higher level of income inequality tend to have lower levels of intergenerational income mobility. Known as the Great Gatsby Curve, this negative relationship in part derives from greater intergenerational economic heritance among the poor. Societies with higher rates of relative poverty will have a higher level of income inequality, but they will also tend to have lower intergenerational mobility due to the reduced capacity of low-income persons to become upwardly mobile. Reviewing relevant research in psychology, we describe how poverty is associated with decreased psychological resources that compromise the competitiveness of low-income persons for superior attainment in the educational system and for greater productivity in the labor market. Economic deprivation in itself thus leads to a vicious circle of disadvantage that diminishes intergenerational mobility even without the existence of any culture of poverty or monopolistic institutions in the economy.

published proceedings

  • Mind & Society

author list (cited authors)

  • Sakamoto, A., Rarick, J., Woo, H., & Wang, S. X.

citation count

  • 12

complete list of authors

  • Sakamoto, Arthur||Rarick, Jason||Woo, Hyeyoung||Wang, Sharron X

publication date

  • January 2014