Political Inequality is International, Interdisciplinary, and Intersectional

Abstract

Political inequality refers to the unequal inf luence over decisions made by political bodies and the unequal outcomes of those decisions. Political inequality is a subtype of power inequality, visible within the political processes of all kinds of political structures. In modern democracies, political inequality is simultaneously a dimension of democracy and a dimension of stratification. Two key theoretical and empirical questions are How much political inequality is there? and is political inequality rising, falling, or staying the same? The answer to these key questions requires us to specify the kind of political inequalityvoice, response, and their subtypes -and whether we mean equality of political opportunities or of political outcomes. I argue that we need to understand better the form, duration, and magnitude of political inequality within and across nations. We need to study it systematically, continuously, and diligently, and in an inclusive, open-minded way, inclining our ears to the varied contributions of the many academic disciplines. We should begin by studying political inequality as an international phenomenon and as an interdisciplinary enterprise, and from an intersectional approach.How much political inequality is there? Is political inequality rising, falling, or staying the same?How would you answer these questions?When the Occupy Wall Street movement reached its heyday in the autumn of 2011, spreading to cities all over the world, the protestors' rallying cry was "We are the 99 percent." They hoped for political change, among other things, but "99" was mainly understood as a statement about economic inequality. If you want to know how much economic inequality there is in your country, and whether this inequality been rising, falling, or staying the same, you can turn to the terabytes worth of publicly available economic data and grind them through the many inequality equations to derive a multitude of statistics. With decades of innovations in the study of economics and inequality, led by the disciplines of sociology and economics, we can, at least, have a debate over the form, duration, and magnitude of economic inequality and its dynamics over time.Political inequality is a distinct form of inequality but has yet to attract sustained, systematic scholarly attention in the same way as its sibling inequalities. Although political equality is a foundation of modern democracy, we do not know how far from equality we are. Even the news media rarely addresses political inequality (Dubrow 2014). Unlike economic inequality, with political inequality, we are far from setting the terms of the debate.I argue that we need to understand better the form, duration, and magnitude of political inequality within and across nations. We need to study it systematically, continuously, and diligently, and in an inclusive, open-minded way, inclining our ears to the varied contributions of the many academic disciplines. Scholarly focus should turn, in equal measure, to both the concept and the empirical assessm...

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