I have met people who explicitly say they prefer a lower gap between them and the better-offs over a better absolute level for themselves. IIRC they were more concerned about ‘fairness’ than about what the powerful might do to them. They also believed that most would agree with them (I believe the opposite).
Yes, ‘fairness’ is often a concept that gets invoked in these sorts of discussions.
For my own part, given world W1 where I have X1 and the best-off people have Y1, and world W2 where I have X2 and the best-off people have Y2, such that (X2 < X1) and (Y2-X2) << (Y1 - X1), within a range of worlds such that X1 and X2 are both not vastly different from what I have today, I expect that when transitioning from W2 to W1 I would experience myself as better off, and when transitioning from W1 to W2 I would experience myself as worse off.
I expect that’s true of most people.
It’s not necessarily the only important question here, though.
I have met people who explicitly say they prefer a lower gap between them and the better-offs over a better absolute level for themselves. IIRC they were more concerned about ‘fairness’ than about what the powerful might do to them. They also believed that most would agree with them (I believe the opposite).
Yes, ‘fairness’ is often a concept that gets invoked in these sorts of discussions.
For my own part, given world W1 where I have X1 and the best-off people have Y1, and world W2 where I have X2 and the best-off people have Y2, such that (X2 < X1) and (Y2-X2) << (Y1 - X1), within a range of worlds such that X1 and X2 are both not vastly different from what I have today, I expect that when transitioning from W2 to W1 I would experience myself as better off, and when transitioning from W1 to W2 I would experience myself as worse off.
I expect that’s true of most people.
It’s not necessarily the only important question here, though.
So, that which certain right-wingers here on LW were fighting against wasn’t a straw man after all. :-/