In a similar study conducted in the United States, the researchers offered a revised list of disfavored groups, including African Americans, the working class, and people who are poor, obese, and less educated. The American respondents also ranked the less-educated at the bottom. Beyond showing the disparaging views that college-educated elites have of less-educated people, the authors of the study offer several intriguing conclusions. First, they challenge the familiar notion that educated elites are morally more enlightened than people with less education, and therefore more tolerant. The authors conclude that well-educated elites are no less biased than less-educated folk; "it is rather that (their) targets of prejudice are different." Moreover, the elites are unembarrassed by their prejudice. They may denounce racism and sexism but are unapologetic about their negative attitudes toward the less-educated.

Third, this adverse judgment of the less-educated is not unique to elites; it is shared by the less-educated respondents themselves. This shows how deeply the meritocratic view of achievement has penetrated social life and how demoralizing it can be for those who do not go to college. "There are no indications that less educated people resist the negative attributions made about them." To the contrary, they "even seem to internalize" these adverse judgments. The "less educated are seen as responsible and blameworthy for their situation, even by the less-educated themselves." Finally, the authors suggest that the relentless emphasis, in a meritocratic society, on the importance of going to college reinforces the social stigma against those who lack a college degree. "The suggestion that education is a universal social problem solver may increase the risk that groups with low levels of socioeconomic status will be especially negatively evaluated while strengthening the ideology of meritocracy." This makes people more willing to accept inequality and more likely to believe that success reflects merit. "If education is regarded as an individual's own responsibility, then people are likely to be less critical of social inequality that stems from differences in education... If educational outcomes are seen as largely deserved, then their consequences are, too."