Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant in Political Science: Representation and Political Support in the Face of Inequality

University Of Kentucky Research Foundation, Lexington KY

Investigators

Abstract

High levels of economic inequality challenge the core principles of democracy and pose major challenges to the deepening and strengthening of democratic regimes. This project investigates the impact of economic inequality on political support and representation in the Americas, a region with the highest levels of inequality in the world. It asks: Who gets meaningful representation in a context of inequality; What policies do blue-collar and white-collar politicians promote in office to address inequality; and How do inequality and working class representation shape people's attitudes about democracy and representation? Evidence shows that high levels of economic inequality reduce citizens' trust in government and support for democracy, and the continued exclusion of the poor and working class have led to party system collapses and the rise of undemocratic populist leaders in a number of countries throughout the Americas. This research advances democracy promotion by investigating the conditions under which inequality undermines popular support for democratic governments. Moreover, this research emphasizes the importance of political elites' class backgrounds and attitudes about inequality for shaping citizens' satisfaction with democracy and support for egalitarian policies. An implication of this research is that even in a context of economic inequality, democratic governments can increase political support among citizens by ensuring that economic policies are made via fair and transparent procedures, and that all citizens are given meaningful voice through representation. This project investigates the specific circumstances under which economic inequality erodes political support and undermines democratic representation. Although prior research has demonstrated a clear connection between high levels of inequality and decreased political support, it is unclear why citizens blame the government for inequality, and which groups of citizens dislike inequality the most. This research theorizes and tests the causal mechanisms linking inequality and political support. It applies social psychology research, as well as fairness and equity theories, to the study of political support and hypothesizes that citizens rely on information about distributive fairness (fairness of economic outcomes) as well as non-economic information about the fairness of government policies and procedures, when evaluating the political system. Additionally, the research project incorporates an overlooked elite perspective into studies of inequality and political support. Although prior research on this topic focuses almost exclusively mass public opinion, this project theorizes that ordinary citizens' perceptions of inequality and fairness, as well as their subsequent evaluations of the political system, are shaped by the attitudes and behaviors of political elites. The researcher uses a mixed-methods design to test the hypotheses. In particular, it combines large-N statistical analyses of public opinion data with original survey experiments from Argentina, Mexico, and the United States. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.