Social Mobility, Middle Class, and Political Transitions

Bahar LeventoÄŸlu ()
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Bahar LeventoÄŸlu: Department of Political Science, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA

Journal of Conflict Resolution, 2014, vol. 58, issue 5, 825-864

Abstract: This article addresses the highly variable middle-class attitudes regarding political transitions and suggests that social mobility is a key factor conditioning its behavior. Social mobility creates a trade-off for the middle class between autocracy, which yields lower redistribution today, and democracy, which guarantees higher redistribution tomorrow. The way this trade-off is resolved impacts middle-class attitudes toward democratic transitions. Even when the middle class prefers lower redistribution levels under autocracy today, the middle class may prefer democracy today to guarantee higher levels of redistribution in the future, if it feels vulnerable about its future prospects.

Keywords: social mobility; middle class; political transitions; democratization (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:jocore:v:58:y:2014:i:5:p:825-864

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