Electoral Consequences of Inequality Perceptions in Knowledge Economies

• In Event: Inequality and Redistribution

Abstract

The shift to the modern knowledge economy has pitted highly educated winners against less educated losers of this transformation and given rise to the political divide between the new left and the radical right. While we can observe the political repercussions of this structural transformation, it remains unclear whether and to what extent this political divide is underpinned by individual perceptions of economic (income, education, class) and social (gender, migration, sexual orientation) inequalities. Do new left and radical right voters indeed evaluate social inequalities as most important and most politicized? Or do they link economic and social concerns more closely than the socio-cultural programmatic polarization of this divide may suggest at first glance? Which inequalities are central according to the winners and losers of the knowledge economy and which do they perceive as neglected or overrated by politics? Drawing on data from an original survey fielded in Germany in 2022, we show that both highly and less educated voters place strong emphasis on both economic and social inequalities. Low educated voters, in particular, feel that the less educated place more emphasis on the importance of socioeconomic differences, but feel that politics is not sufficiently addressing them. Understanding how voters link economic and social inequalities is relevant to better understand policy demands and responsiveness.

Authors

• Tabea Palmtag

• Silja Haeusermann, University of Zurich

• Tarik Abou-Chadi, University of Oxford

• Stefanie Walter, University of Zurich

• Delia Zollinger, University of Zurich