Abstract :
Over the past decades income inequality has been sharply
increasing in both mainland China and Hong Kong, two Chinese societies
that have distinct paths of institutional development. While previous studies
on income inequality have attempted to document the trend and investigate
its causes, this article focuses on people’s perceptions of legitimate income
inequality and how these perceptions are related to their attitude towards
inequality. Analyses of data collected in separate population surveys in
China (2005) and Hong Kong (2007) reveal a higher degree of tolerance
of income inequality and a higher degree of perceived fairness of income
distribution in Hong Kong than in the mainland. In both societies, such
normative support for income inequality is positively associated with
people’s perceptions of opportunities.
