Consequences of income concentration for democratic processes in contemporary Western and comparable societies: Evidence for OECD countries, 2017–2019

Abstract

The study focuses on the relation of economic inequality and political democracy, specifically exploring the democratic consequences of income concentration. It places income concentration among a composite of factors of democracy and considers democracy within a set of results of economic inequality. The study first surveys how the relationship of income and other economic inequality to democracy is theorized and researched in sociology and economics. It then outlines a conceptual framework for analyzing economic inequality’s relationship with and especially net balance of consequences for democracy. It collects and analyzes cross-national data by empirical analyses and reports and discusses the results. Its key result is that income inequality is consequential mostly in an adverse way for political democracy and social freedom. The article’s intended contribution is to better understanding and explaining the relations of economic inequality to democracy among contemporary societies.