When Do the Rich Win?

A major theoretical justification for representative democracy is that it puts power in the hands of the people. Political scientists have tested whether this actually is true by assessing the degree to which policy reflects citizens’ preferences. Recent work finds that public policy is frequently r...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inPolitical science quarterly Vol. 132; no. 1; pp. 43 - 62
Main Authors BRANHAM, J. ALEXANDER, SOROKA, STUART N., WLEZIEN, CHRISTOPHER
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published New York Academy of Political Science 01.03.2017
Oxford University Press
Subjects
Democracy
Political representation
Political science
Preferences
Public opinion
Public policy
Representative democracy
Social classes
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Summary:A major theoretical justification for representative democracy is that it puts power in the hands of the people. Political scientists have tested whether this actually is true by assessing the degree to which policy reflects citizens’ preferences. Recent work finds that public policy is frequently responsive to the will of the people, but that there is significant variation across policy domains. There may be variation in responsiveness to different people as well. Indeed, recent work suggests that policy is responsive primarily, or even solely, to the richest Americans, at the expense of the middle class and poor.
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ISSN:0032-3195
1538-165X
DOI:10.1002/polq.12577