Abstract

Trust is a crucial component of social capital that enables individuals and groups to cooperate effectively. Amid a global decline in social trust, growing attention has turned to the role of economic inequality. Focusing on perceived economic inequality, the present research examines whether its impact on trust varies across different social class contexts. Across three studies (N = 1,133) using samples from South Korea and the United States, I tested whether income moderates the association between perceived economic inequality and two forms of trust (i.e., generalized trust and relational trust). Results showed that higher perceived inequality predicted lower generalized trust (trust in most people) among low-income participants (Studies 1 and 2). Extending prior work, I also assessed relational trust (trust in familiar others) and found that higher perceived inequality predicted greater relational trust, with this effect again most pronounced among low-income participants (Studies 2 and 3). Collectively, these findings suggest a narrowing of the radius of trust among disadvantaged groups: trust becomes increasingly concentrated in known others, while trust in unknown others declines. More broadly, the results imply that the social crisis of inequality is asymmetrically experienced across income groups and may contribute to the persistence of socioeconomic inequality by reshaping trust structures among those at the disadvantaged end of the income distribution.