Making Sense of Inequality: Social Mobility Expectations and Just World Beliefs Among LGBTQ+ Individuals In South Korea

Background and Purpose: Belief in a just world (BJW), referring to the belief that people receive what they deserve, is crucial in shaping how they interpret structural inequality and social conditions. Particularly among LGBTQ+ populations, such beliefs may be shaped by their socioeconomically vulnerable positions in society and their perceived opportunities for upward mobility. Building on scholarship on the link between structural conditions and individual perceptions, this study examines how perceptions of LGBTQ+ socioeconomic vulnerability relate to temporal changes in BJW. It also assesses whether this association is moderated by South Korean LGBTQ+ individuals' expectations regarding social mobility. By doing so, this study aims to offer broader insight into how structural inequality is processed into just world beliefs over time.

Methods: Longitudinal data were collected at yearly intervals across 2024 (W1) and 2025 (W2). The same respondents were followed throughout, who were South Korean adults aged 19 or over, and self-identified as LGBTQ+ individuals (N=463, predominantly aged 30 or older: 52.5%, cisgender women: 41.9%, same-sex attracted: 57.7%). BJW was measured at both W1 and W2 using a validated Korean version (16 items; Cronbach’s α = W1: .89; W2: .80). Perceived LGBTQ+ Socioeconomic Vulnerability was measured with a single item on a 5-point Likert scale at W1. Social Mobility Expectations were measured at W1, a single item on a 4-point Likert scale. Five sociodemographic covariates were included in the model. Structural equation modeling was conducted in Mplus using MLR, and missing data were handled with full-information maximum likelihood.

Results: The longitudinal moderation results showed that, when controlling for sociodemographic covariates and baseline BJW, baseline BJW significantly predicted follow-up BJW (β=.30, p<.01). The main effects of perceived LGBTQ+ socioeconomic vulnerability (β=-.03, p=.640) and social mobility expectations (β=-.01, p=.857) were not statistically significant on follow-up BJW; however, the interaction term between perceived LGBTQ+ socioeconomic vulnerability and social mobility expectations was statistically significant (β=-.23, p<.001). Specifically, higher social mobility expectations strengthened the negative association between prior perceived LGBTQ+ socioeconomic vulnerability and follow-up BJW. Among the sociodemographic covariates, individuals who identified as trans women (β=-.35, p<.01) and nonbinary/genderqueer (β=-.21, p<.01) were significantly associated with lower BJW. The overall model explained 34.4% of the variance in follow-up BJW.

Conclusions and Implications: The findings suggest that social mobility expectations among South Korean LGBTQ+ individuals may shape how their perceptions of LGBTQ+ socioeconomic vulnerability are understood, while also stressing the conditional nature of BJW. The negative association of perceived LGBTQ+ socioeconomic vulnerability on follow-up BJW was observed among those with higher social mobility expectations, indicating that when individuals believe upward social mobility is attainable, their perceptions of LGBTQ+ individuals’ socioeconomic vulnerability in Korea may lead to greater dissonance with BJW. In contrast, having lower social mobility expectations may normalize LGBTQ+ individuals’ socioeconomic vulnerabilities as structurally constrained, thereby attenuating their effect on BJW. Overall, this longitudinal framework highlights the mechanisms by which LGBTQ+ individuals make sense of structural inequality, as well as the heterogeneity within LGBTQ+ populations. Implications for structural and intersectional approaches to inequality are further discussed.