scholarly journals Economic Inequality and Campaign Participation

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frederick Solt ◽  
Michael Ritter
Keyword(s):  
Multilevel Models ◽  
Economic Inequality ◽  
State Level ◽  
Political Campaigns ◽  
Resource Theory ◽  
Relative Power ◽  
Power Theory ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Political Landscape ◽  
Level Data

Objective. How does economic inequality shape participation in political campaigns? Previous research has found that higher inequality makes people of all incomes less likely to participate in politics, consistent with relative power theory, which holds that greater inequality enables wealthier citizens to more fully reshape the political landscape to their own advantage. Campaign activities, however, demand more time and money than previously examined forms of participation and so might better conform to the predictions of resource theory, which focuses narrowly on the ramifications of inequality for individuals’ resources. Methods. We combine individual-level data on donations, meeting attendance, and volunteer work for political campaigns with measures of state-level income inequality to construct a series of multilevel models. Results. The analyses reveal that where inequality is higher, campaign participation is lower among individuals of all incomes. Conclusion. Patterns of participation in even resource-intensive campaign activities provide support for the relative power theory. Forthcoming, Social Science Quarterly.

scholarly journals Economic Inequality and Campaign Participation

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frederick Solt ◽  
Michael Ritter
Keyword(s):  
Multilevel Models ◽  
Economic Inequality ◽  
State Level ◽  
Political Campaigns ◽  
Resource Theory ◽  
Relative Power ◽  
Power Theory ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Political Landscape ◽  
Level Data

Objective. How does economic inequality shape participation in political campaigns? Previous research has found that higher inequality makes people of all incomes less likely to participate in politics, consistent with relative power theory, which holds that greater inequality enables wealthier citizens to more fully reshape the political landscape to their own advantage. Campaign activities, however, demand more time and money than previously examined forms of participation and so might better conform to the predictions of resource theory, which focuses narrowly on the ramifications of inequality for individuals’ resources. Methods. We combine individual-level data on donations, meeting attendance, and volunteer work for political campaigns with measures of state-level income inequality to construct a series of multilevel models. Results. The analyses reveal that where inequality is higher, campaign participation is lower among individuals of all incomes. Conclusion. Patterns of participation in even resource-intensive campaign activities provide support for the relative power theory. Forthcoming, Social Science Quarterly.

Economic Inequality and Social Entrepreneurship

2017 ◽  
Vol 57 (6) ◽  
pp. 1150-1190 ◽  
Author(s):  
Saurav Pathak ◽  
Etayankara Muralidharan
Keyword(s):  
Income Inequality ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Social Entrepreneurship ◽  
Economic Inequality ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Income Mobility ◽  
Global Competitiveness ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Country Level ◽  
Level Data

This article explores the extent to which income inequality and income mobility—both considered indicators of economic inequality and conditions of formal regulatory institutions (government activism)—facilitate or constrain the emergence of social entrepreneurship. Using 77,983 individual-level responses obtained from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) survey of 26 countries, and supplementing with country-level data obtained from the Global Competitiveness Report of the World Economic Forum, our results from multilevel analyses demonstrate that country-level income inequality increases the likelihood of individual-level engagement in social entrepreneurship, while income mobility decreases this likelihood. Further, income mobility negatively moderates the influence of income inequality on social entrepreneurship, such that the condition of low income mobility and high income inequality is a stronger predictor of social entrepreneurship. We discuss implications and limitations of our study, and we suggest avenues for future research.

scholarly journals Local Political Context and Polarization in the Electorate: Evidence from the 2004 Presidential Election

2016 ◽  
Vol 34 ◽  
pp. 21-45
Author(s):  
George Hawley
Keyword(s):  
Multilevel Models ◽  
Political Context ◽  
Causal Mechanism ◽  
Major Party ◽  
National Elections ◽  
Presidential Candidates ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Partisan Polarization ◽  
Level Data ◽  
The Relationship

Political scientists have long examined the degree to which the American electorate exhibits partisan and ideological polarization and sought to explain the causal mechanism driving this phenomenon. Some scholars have argued that there is an increasing degree of geographic polarization of the electorate—that is, a large percentage of geographic units are becoming less politically heterogeneous. In this study, I argue that the two trends are related. Using individual-level data from the 2004 National Annenberg Election Survey, I examine the relationship between local partisan context and political attitudes using multilevel models. I find that, as the local political context becomes less competitive in national elections; those in the local political majority become more ideologically extreme, strengthen their partisan attachments, and hold more polarized attitudes toward the two major-party presidential candidates. These findings suggest that the growing geo- graphic partisan segregation of the electorate is an important source of ideological and partisan polarization.

scholarly journals Economic inequality, income, and their effects on electoral and civil society participation in authoritarian regimes

2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 269-297
Author(s):  
Lars Pelke
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Political Participation ◽  
Economic Inequality ◽  
Empirical Support ◽  
Authoritarian Regimes ◽  
Resource Theory ◽  
Individual Income ◽  
Civil Society Participation ◽  
Democratic Regimes ◽  
Level Data

AbstractWhat effect does economic inequality in authoritarian regimes have upon the political participation of its citizens? Do individual income and repression each have a greater effect than economic inequality? Three prominent theories, namely the Conflict, Relative Power, and Resource Theories address the inequality-participation puzzle in the context of democracies. However, theoretical arguments and empirical evidence for non-democratic regimes are scarce. I argue that it is individual income and the level of repression rather than economic inequality that explain political participation in autocracies. Using three-level hierarchical models that combine micro and macro level data for 65,000 individuals covering a various set of 31 authoritarian regimes and 54 country-years, this analysis demonstrates that higher levels of economic inequality hardly suppress political participation among all citizens. However, individual income has a more powerfully effect on civil society participation, while the level of repression decreases the voting likelihood more powerful than income. These findings suggest that the Resource Theory generates the greatest empirical support for autocracies.

Building Bridges for Student Success: Are Higher Education Articulation Policies Effective?

2009 ◽  
Vol 111 (10) ◽  
pp. 2444-2478 ◽  
Author(s):  
Josipa Roksa
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Community Colleges ◽  
Research Question ◽  
State Level ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Level Data ◽  
Transfer Success ◽  
Bachelor's Degree Attainment ◽  
Education Performance

Background/Context Although the importance of facilitating transfer from community colleges to 4-year institutions is almost universally accepted, there is little consensus on how to measure transfer success or evaluate policies aimed at assisting students in making this educational transition. Despite the increasing attention on transfer in recent decades, the most fundamental types of questions, such as whether community colleges are successful at facilitating transfer and bachelor's degree attainment and whether articulation policies are effective, lack satisfactory answers. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study I describe challenges associated with current endeavors to facilitate and measure transfer success, attempt to resolve some of the inconsistencies in previous research on articulation policies, and illuminate promising paths for the future. Research Design The manuscript begins with a synthesis of previous research, including different definitions of transfer success and articulation policies. I then analyze state-level and individual-level data to examine the effectiveness of articulation policies using these distinct definitions. Finally, I draw on descriptive information from various higher education systems to illustrate the variety of strategies adopted to facilitate transfer, and I suggest potential explanations for why statewide articulation policies may not appear effective. Conclusions/Recommendations The current state of knowledge and data collection efforts make it impossible to provide definitive answers regarding the effectiveness of articulation policies in higher education. I conclude with recommendations for improving future research and policy regarding this crucial transition in higher education, including collecting and sharing data (with collaboration between higher education institutions and state and federal governments), clearly defining goals of articulation policies and evaluating them accordingly, and developing a consistent set of definitions and measurements of transfer success. I suggest that these recommendations can be implemented by building on existing systems of collaboration and coordination in higher education. The 2/4 community college-baccalaureate transfer function is one of the most important state policy issues in higher education because its success (or failure) is central to many dimensions of state higher education performance, including access, equity, affordability, cost effectiveness, degree productivity, and quality. Wellman, 2002, p. 3

Minority Threat, Worker Power, and Discriminatory Complaints: State-level Effects on Racial Income Inequality among Men

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 215-227
Author(s):  
David Maume ◽  
Ervin (Maliq) Matthew ◽  
George Wilson
Keyword(s):  
Income Inequality ◽  
Census Data ◽  
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ◽  
State Level ◽  
Union Density ◽  
Minority Population ◽  
Pay Gap ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Minority Threat ◽  
Level Data

Because U.S. states are meaningful polities with differing cultures and institutions, they are important locations for the struggles for resources. Yet there have been surprisingly few studies of how state-level cleavages and institutions shape the pattern of income inequality, especially by race. This article matches individual-level data on income and its determinants (from the Current Population Survey) to state-level measures (mostly from Census data) of varying demographic, power, and institutional configurations. A multilevel model of the racial pay gap is estimated showing that racial income inequality increases with the size of the minority population in the state but decreases with the rate of filing racial discrimination complaints with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The index of labor market power (a scaled index of union density and the size of the public sector) increases pay across the board but does not reduce racial income inequality. The findings suggest that recent and current neoliberal efforts across states to shrink government, limit unions, and abandon enforcement of antidiscrimination will lower wages for all workers and exacerbate racial income inequality.

scholarly journals Do People in Conservative States Really Watch More Porn? A Hierarchical Analysis

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 237802312090847
Author(s):  
Samuel L. Perry ◽  
Andrew L. Whitehead
Keyword(s):  
State Level ◽  
Ecological Fallacy ◽  
Hierarchical Analysis ◽  
Regression Analyses ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Pornography Consumption ◽  
Level Data ◽  
Political Conservatism ◽  
Nationally Representative ◽  
Evangelical Identity

Recent studies have found that state-level religious and political conservatism is positively associated with various aggregate indicators of interest in pornography. Such studies have been limited, however, in that they either did not include data measuring actual consumption patterns and/or did not include data on individuals (risking the ecological fallacy). This study overcomes both limitations by incorporating state-level data with individual-level data and a measure of pornography consumption from a large nationally representative survey. Hierarchical linear regression analyses show that, in the main, state-level religious and political characteristics do not predict individual-level pornography consumption, and individual-level religiosity and political conservatism predict less recent pornography consumption. However, interactions between individual-level evangelical identity and state-level political conservatism indicate that evangelicals who live in more politically conservative states report the highest rates of pornography consumption. These findings thus provide more nuanced support for previous research linking religious and political conservatism with greater pornography consumption.

Strategies of Flexible Accumulation and Perceived Employment Insecurity: Is There a Connection?

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 331-351
Author(s):  
Travis Scott Lowe
Keyword(s):  
Labor Market ◽  
Job Insecurity ◽  
General Social Survey ◽  
State Level ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Employment Insecurity ◽  
Level Data ◽  
Part Time ◽  
Flexible Accumulation ◽  
Perceived Job Insecurity

Existing research on perceived employment insecurity tends to focus on perceptions of job insecurity (a worker’s perception of how vulnerable their position is with their current employer). This study examines perceived labor market insecurity (a worker’s assessment of their job prospects in the broader labor market) alongside perceived job insecurity. The author uses individual-level General Social Survey and publicly available state-level data from 1977 to 2012 to determine and identify strategies of flexible accumulation (e.g., deindustrialization, deunionization, and financialization) that may be associated with these outcomes. The findings indicate that these strategies are associated with greater levels of perceived job insecurity but are not significant for perceived labor market insecurity, which is only positively associated with unemployment at the state level. The author also finds that individual-level factors such as income and part-time status have differing effects for each outcome. In a time characterized by higher levels of employer-employee detachment, these findings have important implications for the study of employment insecurity.

The Politics of Choice Reconsidered: Partisanship, Ideology, and Minority Politics in Washington’s Charter School Initiative

2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-92
Author(s):  
Loren Collingwood ◽  
Ashley Jochim ◽  
Kassra A. R. Oskooii
Keyword(s):  
School Choice ◽  
Charter School ◽  
State Level ◽  
The United States ◽  
Advocacy Groups ◽  
Ballot Initiatives ◽  
Minority Politics ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Level Data ◽  
Shed Light

Charter schools enjoy support among Republican and Democratic lawmakers in states and Congress, but little research has examined their support among the electorate. We take advantage of Washington’s 2012 charter school ballot initiative—the first voter-approved charter initiative in the United States—to shed light on the politics of school choice at the mass level. Because in-depth, individual-level voter data are often unavailable in state-level elections, we leverage extensive precinct- and district-level data to examine patterns of support and opposition toward the charter school initiative, focusing on how partisanship, ideology, and demographic factors serve to unify or divide voters. Our analysis reveals that the coalition of supporters cut across usual partisan and demographic cleavages, producing somewhat strange bedfellows. This finding has important implications for the strategies advocacy groups may consider as they seek to expand or limit school choice programs via ballot initiatives as opposed to the statehouse, and provides suggestive evidence regarding the evolving shapers of voter support for school choice and ballot initiatives more generally.

Labor Unions and Voter Turnout in the American States: Direct Versus Indirect Mobilization

2022 ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
Gidong Kim
Keyword(s):  
Labor Unions ◽  
Voter Turnout ◽  
State Level ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
American States ◽  
Level Data ◽  
Midterm Elections ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Level Analysis ◽  
Aggregate Strength

Abstract I examine the relationship between labor unions and voter turnout in the American states. Though it is well known that unions increase turnout directly, we know less about their indirect effects. Moreover, the indirect effects may consist of nonmember mobilization and aggregate strength. To examine the direct and indirect mechanisms, I analyze both state-level panel data and individual-level data with a multilevel approach. First, my panel analysis shows that unions are positively associated with turnout as expected. Yet, the association is observed only in midterm elections, but not in presidential elections. Second, more importantly, my individual-level analysis suggests that indirect nonmember mobilization and indirect aggregate strength are positively related to turnout, while direct member mobilization is not. The findings imply that the direct effects are limited and, thus, that decreasing levels of voter turnout due to recently declining union membership come primarily from indirect mobilization rather than direct mobilization.

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