Inequality and Social Comparisons

When individuals make comparisons between their own economic statuses and those of others, to whom do they compare themselves?
What are the roles of geography, media diet, and other factors in shaping people’s reference groups?
What indicators tend to be particularly salient to individuals’ perceptions of economic inequality, and are these indicators reliable measurements?

Do people compare themselves to all of those around them, or primarily to a smaller group of “people like them?” Who is included in that group?
Does rising economic inequality change the kinds of comparisons that people make?
How should researchers make sense of the fact that the extent of economic inequality at the zip code-, state-, and country-levels is correlated with different (and sometimes contradictory) measures of relative happiness? At which levels are others’ incomes most salient in evaluating one’s own position?
How does social media trigger status comparisons, and how does information about status from media sources interact with information provided by one’s physical environment?
What role do social comparisons play in influencing different forms of subjective well-being?
How can we disaggregate the effects of relative income inequality on well-being from the effects of lack of material resources?
What connection, if any, do social comparisons’ effects on happiness and subjective well-being have to consumer decision making?
What are the potential macro-level consequences of such inequality-driven comparisons, from effects on population health to household savings rates and asset market bubbles?