When do the poor vote for the right-wing and why?

• In Event: Ethnic Politics in the Developing World: Rethinking Classic Approaches

Abstract

What explains the popularity of right-wing parties amongst the poor? This paper argues that in ranked multi-ethnic societies with high social-status inequality, poor high-status voters may ally with rich high-status voters if they believe their social-status is under threat. I demonstrate this in the context of the Indian states by exploiting an announcement by the Government of India in 1990 to implement affirmative action for lower castes -- an intervention that threatened to weaken the social-status of upper-caste Brahmans. Using unique data from the 1931 census, this paper shows that areas where Brahmans were more dominant in the 1930s experienced a higher surge in right-wing voting after this announcement than other areas. Using survey data, I find that both wealthy and poor Brahmans voted for the right-wing where Brahmans were dominant in 1931. This shows how concerns about social-status may make the poor vote more susceptible to right-wing appeals in contexts of high social-status inequality.

Author

• Pavithra Suryanarayan, Johns Hopkins University