Changes in Network Diversity and Attitudes Towards Market Distribution of Social Services: Longitudinal Evidence from Chile

Unlike state redistribution, the market plays a role in distributing services within welfare systems. From a distributive justice perspective, social services are viewed as legitimate objects of commodification, ranging from market-driven to state-led provision, where services are traded, evaluated, and priced. Higher-income individuals in better-paying labor market positions are less likely to challenge market-based distribution, justifying that access to welfare should be determined by ability to pay. Justifying unequal access is not only driven by self-interest or values but also by socioeconomic diversity in interpersonal networks—understood as an individual’s connectedness to dissimilar ties (e.g., occupations). Two mechanisms by which networks shape attitudes are (i) social influence and (ii) network segregation. Networks act as spaces for understanding inequality, providing information, and facilitating inter-group contact, which may foster empathy. It has been shown that greater diversity in broader networks encourages more critical views on resource distribution and its consequences for welfare. Also, network diversity may be experienced differently depending on economic resources, possibly making those in advantaged positions more critical of the market's role in the provision of social welfare. An open question remains: how do individual changes in network diversity influence support for market-based welfare distribution? It's also worth exploring whether changes in individual income moderates this relationship. I investigated these questions using longitudinal individual panel data from Chile (N=1500), a country characterized by high-income inequality and a strongly market-oriented welfare system. The results show that increasing network diversity is associated with lower support for market justice attitudes in education, health, and pensions. Furthermore, the effects of increasing diversity are more pronounced as individual income increases over time. This study highlights the role of both cross-status connections in understanding market justice attitudes, as well as their implications for policies and cohesion.