Children selectively amend structural inequalities.

Abstract

Structural inequalities refer to systems that have historically privileged (and continue to privilege) some groups over others. We explored children's propensity to amend structural inequalities in a resource reallocation task in the context of preexisting inequalities. In a preregistered experiment, U.S. children (N = 120; 60 girls, 60 boys; 59% White, 12% Asian, 5% Black, 4% Latine/Hispanic, 19% mixed race, and 1% identified as other) learned about two novel groups: one historically advantaged and the other historically disadvantaged. Children sequentially saw eight resources spanning four categories-Basic Goods: food and homes; Public Goods: schools and hospitals; Luxury Goods: fancy clothes and expensive cars; and Opportunity Goods: best jobs and money to start a business. On each trial, children saw an unequal allocation of resources (e.g., homes) in an 8:2 ratio favoring the advantaged group. Children had free rein in redistributing resources. Children generally amended the structural inequality, with older children adopting an equal distribution and younger children moving an average of one item from the advantaged to disadvantaged group. Importantly, children's resource redistributions were selective: Reallocations of Luxury Goods were more likely to continue to favor the advantaged group, while children preferred equality in their reallocations of Basic Goods. For Public Goods and Opportunity Goods, children were as likely to favor the advantaged group as they were to favor equality. Finally, parents' political beliefs predicted younger (but not older) children's reallocation strategies. These findings highlight an emerging capacity to reason about and selectively amend structural inequalities. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).