The psychology of inequality and political division
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0:01 - 0:03You've probably heard by now
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0:03 - 0:06that economic inequality
is historically high, -
0:06 - 0:09that the wealthiest one-tenth
of one percent in the United States -
0:09 - 0:12have as much wealth
as the bottom 90 percent combined, -
0:13 - 0:16or that the wealthiest
eight individuals in the world -
0:16 - 0:17have as much wealth
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0:17 - 0:21as the poorest 3.5 billion
inhabitants of the planet. -
0:22 - 0:28But did you know that economic inequality
is associated with shorter lifespans, -
0:28 - 0:29less happiness,
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0:29 - 0:30more crime
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0:30 - 0:32and more drug abuse?
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0:33 - 0:35Those sound like problems of poverty,
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0:35 - 0:38but among wealthy, developed nations
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0:38 - 0:40those health and social problems
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0:40 - 0:44are actually more tightly linked
to inequality between incomes -
0:44 - 0:46than to absolute incomes.
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0:47 - 0:48And because of that,
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0:48 - 0:50the United States,
-
0:50 - 0:53the wealthiest and the most
unequal of nations, -
0:53 - 0:57actually fares worse
than all other developed countries. -
0:59 - 1:02Surveys show that
large majorities of Americans, -
1:02 - 1:04both Democrats and Republicans,
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1:04 - 1:08believe inequality is too high
and want more equal pay. -
1:08 - 1:14And yet as a society, we don't seem
to be able to find the common ground, -
1:14 - 1:17the consensus, the political will
to do anything about it. -
1:18 - 1:22Because, as inequality
has risen in recent decades, -
1:22 - 1:25political polarization
has risen along with it. -
1:27 - 1:31We see those who disagree with us
as idiots or as immoral. -
1:32 - 1:34Nearly half of Democrats and Republicans
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1:34 - 1:38now think that the other side
is not just mistaken -
1:38 - 1:39but a threat to the nation.
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1:40 - 1:44And that animosity prevents us
from finding the common ground -
1:44 - 1:45to change things.
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1:47 - 1:51I'm a social psychology professor
at the University of North Carolina, -
1:51 - 1:55and I study the effects of inequality
on people's thinking and behavior. -
1:56 - 2:00I'm going to argue that it's not just
an unfortunate coincidence -
2:00 - 2:04that inequality and political division
have risen together. -
2:05 - 2:07There are good psychological reasons
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2:07 - 2:09that inequality drives wedges
in our politics. -
2:10 - 2:13That means there are good
psychological paths -
2:13 - 2:14to improve both at once.
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2:16 - 2:19To understand why inequality
is so powerful, -
2:19 - 2:23you have to first understand
that we are constantly comparing ourselves -
2:23 - 2:24to other people,
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2:24 - 2:26and when we do that,
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2:26 - 2:29we really like to come out on top,
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2:29 - 2:32and we find it painful
to be on the bottom. -
2:32 - 2:35Psychologists call it
the "better-than-average effect." -
2:36 - 2:39Most people believe
they're better than average -
2:39 - 2:41at just about anything they care about,
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2:43 - 2:47which isn't strictly possible,
because that's just what average means. -
2:47 - 2:50(Laughter)
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2:50 - 2:52But that's the way people feel.
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2:52 - 2:55Most people think
they're smarter than average, -
2:55 - 2:57harder working than average
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2:57 - 2:59and more socially skilled.
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3:00 - 3:02Most people think they're
better drivers than average. -
3:02 - 3:04(Laughter)
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3:04 - 3:07That's true even if you do the study
with a sample of people -
3:07 - 3:10currently hospitalized
for a car accident that they caused. -
3:10 - 3:12(Laughter)
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3:13 - 3:16So we really want to see ourselves
as better than average, -
3:16 - 3:18and if we find out otherwise,
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3:18 - 3:21it's a painful experience
that we have to cope with. -
3:21 - 3:25And we cope with it
by shifting how we see the world. -
3:26 - 3:27To understand how this works,
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3:27 - 3:29my collaborators and I ran an experiment.
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3:31 - 3:35We asked participants to complete
a decision-making task to earn some money, -
3:35 - 3:38and in reality, everyone earned
the same amount of money. -
3:39 - 3:42But we randomly divided them
into two groups, -
3:42 - 3:45and we told one group
that they had done better than average, -
3:45 - 3:48and we told the other group
they had done worse than average. -
3:48 - 3:53So now we have one group that feels richer
and one group that feels poorer, -
3:53 - 3:55but for no objective reason.
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3:56 - 3:58And then we asked them some questions.
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3:58 - 4:02When we asked them,
"How good are you at making decisions?" -
4:02 - 4:05the better-than-average group
said that they were more competent -
4:05 - 4:07than the below-average group.
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4:08 - 4:11The better-than-average group
said that their success -
4:11 - 4:14was a fair outcome of a meritocracy.
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4:15 - 4:18The below-average group
thought the system was rigged, -
4:18 - 4:20and in this case,
of course, they were right. -
4:20 - 4:23(Laughter)
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4:24 - 4:27Even though the two groups
had the same amount of money, -
4:27 - 4:31the group that felt richer
said we should cut taxes on the wealthy, -
4:31 - 4:33cut benefits to the poor.
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4:33 - 4:36Let them work hard and be
responsible for themselves, they said. -
4:39 - 4:44These are attitudes that we normally
assume are rooted in deeply held values -
4:44 - 4:47and a lifetime of experience,
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4:47 - 4:48but a 10-minute exercise
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4:48 - 4:51that made people feel richer or poorer
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4:51 - 4:53was enough to change those views.
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4:55 - 5:01This difference between being rich or poor
and feeling rich or poor is important, -
5:01 - 5:03because the two don't always
line up very well. -
5:04 - 5:06You often hear people say with nostalgia,
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5:06 - 5:09"We were poor, but we didn't know it."
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5:10 - 5:12That was the case for me growing up,
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5:12 - 5:13until one day,
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5:13 - 5:16in the fourth-grade lunch line,
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5:16 - 5:19we had a new cashier
who didn't know the ropes, -
5:19 - 5:21and she asked me for 1.25 dollars.
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5:22 - 5:27I was taken aback, because I had never
been asked to pay for my lunch before. -
5:27 - 5:30I didn't know what to say,
because I didn't have any money. -
5:31 - 5:34And suddenly,
I realized for the first time -
5:34 - 5:37that we free lunch kids
were the poor ones. -
5:40 - 5:42That awkward moment
in the school lunch line -
5:42 - 5:44changed so much for me,
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5:44 - 5:47because for the first time, I felt poor.
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5:48 - 5:51We didn't have any less money
than the day before, -
5:51 - 5:53but for the first time,
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5:53 - 5:55I started noticing things differently.
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5:56 - 5:58It changed the way I saw the world.
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5:58 - 6:02I started noticing how the kids
who paid for their lunch -
6:02 - 6:04seemed to dress better
than the free lunch kids. -
6:05 - 6:08I started noticing the big yellow blocks
of government cheese -
6:08 - 6:10that showed up at our door
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6:10 - 6:13and the food stamps my mother
would pull out at the grocery store. -
6:14 - 6:15I was always a shy kid,
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6:15 - 6:18but I hardly talked at all
after that at school. -
6:18 - 6:20Who was I to speak up?
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6:22 - 6:26For decades, social scientists
looked for evidence -
6:26 - 6:29that feeling deprived
compared to other people -
6:29 - 6:31would motivate political action.
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6:31 - 6:34They thought it would mobilize
protests, strikes, -
6:34 - 6:36maybe even revolutions.
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6:36 - 6:40But again and again what they found
was that it paralyzed people, -
6:42 - 6:43because the truth is,
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6:43 - 6:45feeling less than other people
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6:45 - 6:46brings shame.
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6:46 - 6:49It makes people turn away,
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6:49 - 6:50disgusted with the system.
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6:52 - 6:54Feeling better than other
people, though -- -
6:54 - 6:55now that is motivating.
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6:56 - 6:59It motivates us to protect that position,
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6:59 - 7:02and it has important consequences
for our politics. -
7:03 - 7:06To see why, consider another experiment.
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7:07 - 7:11Again, we asked participants
to make decisions to earn some money, -
7:12 - 7:14and we told one group
that they had done better than average -
7:14 - 7:17and the other group that they
had done worse than average. -
7:17 - 7:22And again, the better-than-average group
said it's a fair meritocracy, -
7:22 - 7:23cut taxes on the wealthy,
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7:23 - 7:25cut benefits on the poor.
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7:28 - 7:30But this time, we also asked them
what did they think -
7:30 - 7:33about other participants
who disagree with them -
7:33 - 7:35on those issues.
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7:35 - 7:37Are they smart or incompetent?
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7:37 - 7:40Are they reasonable or are they biased?
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7:42 - 7:46The better-than-average group
said anybody who disagrees with them -
7:46 - 7:49must be incompetent, biased,
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7:49 - 7:51blinded by self-interest.
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7:53 - 7:54The below-average group
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7:54 - 7:56didn't assume that about their opponents.
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7:58 - 8:00Now, there are lots of psychology studies
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8:00 - 8:03showing that when people agree with us,
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8:03 - 8:04we think they're brilliant,
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8:04 - 8:06and when people disagree with us,
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8:06 - 8:07we tend to think they're idiots.
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8:07 - 8:09(Laughter)
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8:10 - 8:13But this is new because we found
it was driven entirely by the group -
8:13 - 8:15that felt better than average,
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8:15 - 8:19who felt entitled to dismiss
those people who disagree with them. -
8:22 - 8:25So think about what
this is doing to our politics, -
8:25 - 8:30as the haves and have-nots
spread further and further apart. -
8:32 - 8:36Yes, a lot of us think
that people on the other side are idiots, -
8:37 - 8:42but the people politically engaged enough
to be yelling at each other about politics -
8:42 - 8:44are actually mostly the well-off.
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8:45 - 8:50In fact, as inequality has grown
in recent decades, -
8:50 - 8:54political interest and participation
among the poor has plummeted. -
8:55 - 8:58Again, we see that people
who feel left behind -
8:58 - 9:03aren't taking to the streets to protest
or organize voter registration drives. -
9:03 - 9:05Often, they aren't even voting.
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9:05 - 9:08Instead, they're turning away
and dropping out. -
9:10 - 9:14So if we want to do something
about extreme inequality, -
9:14 - 9:15we have to fix our politics.
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9:16 - 9:18And if we want to fix our politics,
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9:18 - 9:20we have to do something about inequality.
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9:20 - 9:21So what do we do?
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9:23 - 9:26The wonderful thing about spirals
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9:26 - 9:29is that you can interrupt
at any point in the cycle. -
9:31 - 9:34I think our best bet starts
with those of us -
9:34 - 9:38who have benefited the most
from inequality's rise, -
9:38 - 9:40those of us who have done
better than average. -
9:42 - 9:43If you've been successful,
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9:43 - 9:47it's natural to chalk up your success
to your own hard work. -
9:48 - 9:49But, like the studies I showed you,
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9:49 - 9:51everybody does that,
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9:51 - 9:55whether or not it really was
the hard work that mattered most. -
9:59 - 10:01Every successful person I know
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10:01 - 10:05can think of times when they worked hard
and struggled to succeed. -
10:06 - 10:08They can also think of times
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10:08 - 10:12when they benefited from good luck
or a helping hand -
10:12 - 10:13but that part is harder.
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10:14 - 10:16Psychologists Shai Davidai
and Tom Gilovich -
10:16 - 10:20call it the "headwind-tailwind asymmetry."
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10:20 - 10:23When you're struggling against headwinds,
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10:23 - 10:25those obstacles are all you can see.
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10:25 - 10:28It's what you notice and remember.
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10:28 - 10:32But when the wind's at your back
and everything's going your way, -
10:32 - 10:34all you notice is yourself
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10:34 - 10:36and our own amazing talents.
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10:36 - 10:40So we have to stop and think for a minute
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10:40 - 10:43to recognize those tailwinds
helping us along. -
10:45 - 10:47It's so easy to see
what's wrong with people -
10:47 - 10:49who disagree with you.
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10:49 - 10:52Some of you decided that I was an idiot
in the first two minutes, -
10:52 - 10:54because I said inequality was harmful.
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10:54 - 10:55(Laughter)
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10:56 - 10:59The hard part is to recognize
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10:59 - 11:01that if you were in a different position,
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11:01 - 11:03you might see things differently,
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11:03 - 11:05just like the subjects in our experiments.
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11:07 - 11:10So if you're in the above-average
group in life -- -
11:10 - 11:13and if you're watching a TED talk,
you most likely are -- -
11:13 - 11:14(Laughter)
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11:14 - 11:16then I leave you with this challenge:
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11:18 - 11:21the next time you're tempted to dismiss
someone who disagrees with you -
11:21 - 11:23as an idiot,
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11:23 - 11:26think about the tailwinds
that helped you get where you are. -
11:27 - 11:29What lucky breaks did you get
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11:29 - 11:31that might have turned out differently?
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11:31 - 11:34What helping hands are you grateful for?
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11:35 - 11:38Recognizing those tailwinds
gives us the humility we need -
11:38 - 11:42to see that disagreeing with us
doesn't make people idiots. -
11:42 - 11:45The real hard work
is in finding common ground, -
11:45 - 11:48because it's the well-off
who have the power -
11:48 - 11:51and the responsibility to change things.
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11:51 - 11:52Thank you.
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11:52 - 11:55(Applause)
- Title:
- The psychology of inequality and political division
- Speaker:
- Keith Payne
- Description:
-
"If we want to fix our politics, we have to do something about inequality," says social psychologist Keith Payne. Showing how economic inequality changes the way people see and behave towards one another, Payne helps explain the rise of the political polarization that's slicing up society -- and challenges us to think twice the next time we dismiss someone for the sake of politics.
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDTalks
- Duration:
- 12:09
Erin Gregory edited English subtitles for The psychology of inequality and political division | ||
Erin Gregory edited English subtitles for The psychology of inequality and political division | ||
Erin Gregory approved English subtitles for The psychology of inequality and political division | ||
Erin Gregory edited English subtitles for The psychology of inequality and political division | ||
Camille Martínez accepted English subtitles for The psychology of inequality and political division | ||
Camille Martínez edited English subtitles for The psychology of inequality and political division | ||
Camille Martínez edited English subtitles for The psychology of inequality and political division | ||
Joseph Geni edited English subtitles for The psychology of inequality and political division |