Category: Power Resources
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Jane Mayer: Dark Money in Politics
How does “money in politics” work? Is there a plan by some billionaires to seed the political landscape with “dark money”? In this post, we present the research of investigative journalist Jane Mayer who exposed the immense influence of the Koch brothers on American politics. The Koch brothers are wealthy libertarians who have used their…
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Ray Dalio on Power, Money, and Societal Collapse
What is the relationship between money, power, and the collapse of society? This blog post presents the ideas of Ray Dalio, billionaire investor and author of “Principles for Dealing with the Changing World Order: Why Nations Succeed and Fail.” Dalio explores his ideas about a Big Cycle and international relations, highlighting the interplay of how…
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Power Inequality: Trends in Europe
Inequality is generally understood as long-standing structured differences in social, economic, legal, and political resources. Inequalities intersect, such that power inequality is associated with economic, legal, social, and political inequality. What is power inequality? Power inequality is defined as structured differences in the capacity of principals to realize their will against the interests and efforts…
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Political Equality in V-Dem: “Power distributed by social group”
In a previous post, we discussed how the Varieties of Democracy “V-Dem” project measures “political equality.” V-Dem is an expert survey. They guide the expert-respondents’ attention to particular groups’ political equality. These groups are: (a) socioeconomic position, (b) social groups, (c) gender, and (d) sexual orientation. In this post, we discuss how they measure “Power…
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Political Equality as Measured by Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem)
If we want to measure the power structure of society, we can examine the extent of political equality. For a quantitative measure, one can use the Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem, as it is commonly referred to) dataset’s “political equality” measure (see also Cole 2018). In this post, I examine and critique the “political equality” measure…
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The Many Definitions of Political Inequality
What is the definition of political inequality? Political inequality is worrisome for the future of democracy. Unequal access to political decision-makers means that the political voice of the few is louder than the political voice of the many. But how can we define political inequality? In my book published by Routledge, I defined political inequality…
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Democracy and Economic Inequality
Why does economic inequality rise in democracies? Economic inequality is rising, and the United Nations reports that economic inequality impacts 70 percent of the world, even when we include democracies such as the US, UK, France, and Germany. Why does democracy not reduce economic inequality? According to democratic theories, giving everyone the vote and allowing…
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How Political Voice Fares in an Age of Rising Inequality: Frederick Solt’s Research on Economic Inequality and Democracy
Political Voice and Economic Inequality The basics of modern life — job, education, and income — can shape our interest in politics, our desire to discuss politics with others, and our decision to vote. In the parlance of social science, occupation and socioeconomic status may impact “political engagement,” otherwise known as political voice. We politically…
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Interview with Jan Falkowski on Political Power and Land Inequality in Poland
Jan Falkowski, of the University of Warsaw, Poland, recently presented a paper, “Do Political and Economic Inequalities Go Together? Mayors’ Turnover, Elite Families and the Distribution of Agricultural Land” at the Politics and Inequality conference held in Warsaw, Poland. Jan Falkowski is an Assistant Professor with the University of Warsaw, Faculty of Economic Sciences, Chair…
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Political Inequality and the Revolution of Dignity in Ukraine
This is a guest post by Olga Zelinska, Polish Academy of Sciences, based on an early article (2015) on local Maidans. The Start of Euromaidan in Ukraine It was the summer of 2013 and the people of Ukraine felt helpless. During this time of ‘soft authoritarianism,’ they saw rampant corruption while corporations and other business…
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Five Problems with Measuring Political Inequality
Five reasons why measuring political inequality is difficult.
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Notes on Winters and Page’s “Oligarchy in the U.S.?”
In this post, I summarize the article “Oligarchy in the U.S.,” by Winters and Page (2009). Winters and Page: Oligarchy in the USA Winters and Page (Hereafter, WP) argue that all modern democracies, regardless of level of democracy, can be oligarchies. Oligarchy and democracy can, and do, “coexist comfortably” (731). WP ask whether the U.S.…
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Notes on Piven and Cloward’s (2005) Discussion of Power Resources
What are power resources? Piven and Cloward (2005) discuss power resources. They write: “…it is perhaps the most important dispute in the discussion of power. What are to be regarded as power resources?” (36) Distributional approaches Weber: “all conceivable qualities of a person and all conceivable combinations of circumstances may put him in a position…
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Defining and Measuring Political Resources
What is the definition of political resources? The definition and measurement of political inequality requires a definition of political resources. Let’s start with a definition of political inequality. Political inequality is structured differences in political influence over government decisions, and the outcomes of those decisions. There are two main points about political resources: Are political resources…
Political Inequality: A blog since 2010 