Ethnic Inequality and the Ethnification of Political Parties

2015/11/18 by John D. Huber, Pavithra Suryanarayan · 91 citations
Arts and Humanities · Social Sciences · #Argument (complex analysis) #Class (philosophy) #Development economics #Economic inequality #Economics #Element (criminal law) #Ethnic group #Gender studies #Identity (music) #Inequality #Law #Political economy #Political science #Politics #Salient #Social and Economic Development in India #Sociology #South Asian Studies and Conflicts #South Asian Studies and Diaspora #State (computer science)

paper · doi:10.1017/s0043887115000349

published in World Politics 68(1), 149-188 (Cambridge University Press)

openalex publication_date 2015/11/18 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/25

Abstract

Why does ethnicity become a salient element of electoral politics in some places but not others? The authors argue that in majoritarian systems, ethnic identity is most salient to electoral behavior when there are high levels of inequality between ethnic groups. Theytest this argument in the Indian states and find that state-level party system ethnification is strongly correlated with economic inequality between groups, a pattern they also find in cross-national data. Theyalso show that in India, when income differences between groups increase, the groups tend to support different parties. The analysis reveals a strong class component to ethnic politics in India, underscoring the possibility that what scholars often view as identity politics can have an element of class politics in disguise.

Citations

• Ethnicity, Political Systems, and Civil Wars

Cited by

• Religion, language, race and ethnic voting
• Ethnoracial Hierarchies and Democratic Commitments
• The Impact of Welfare on Intergroup Relations: Caste-Based Social Insurance and Social Integration in India
• Nationalism, Class, and Status: How Nationalists Use Policy Offers and Group Appeals to Attract a New Electorate
• The Effects of Local-Level Economic Inequality on Social Capital: Evidence from Andhra Pradesh, India. [europepmc]
• Inequality between identity groups and social unrest. [europepmc]

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