Social Inequality and the Threats to Democracy

Session Submission Type: Full Paper Panel

Session Description

Although social and political dimensions of economic inequality have started to garner attention in recent scholarship and media coverage, it remains a largely under-theorized area of research and understanding. The ability of economic inequality to degrade democratic culture, norms and institutions is a concern that has received too little attention given the rise in populism as well as the decline in democratic attitudes and practices. This panel will explore the ways that economic inequality shapes and alters non-economic social and cultural processes that in turn have had political consequences in modern polities. The panel will also explore ways that inequality and its social effects can be addressed normatively by introducing new evaluative concepts as well as policy schemes.

Sub Unit

• DIVISION 55: Class and Inequality

Individual Presentations

• A Republican Theory of Economic Inequality - Michael J. Thompson, William Paterson University

• The Profile of Rising Authoritarianism in the United States - Anthony R. DiMaggio, Lehigh University

• Is Universal Basic Income American? - Holona LeAnne Ochs, Lehigh University

• Amplifying Inequalities Through Social Media - Vera Leigh Fennell, Lehigh University

Chair

• Michael J. Thompson William Paterson University

Discussant

• Laura Katz Olson Lehigh University