Journal article
Too Much Democracy? Exploring the Link between Majoritarian Institutions and Disparities in the American States
State politics & policy quarterly, Vol.25(1), pp.1-21
03/2025
DOI: 10.1017/spq.2024.21
Abstract
In the field of American state politics, the tension between majoritarian institutions and equality has largely been ignored. Do state institutions that empower majority preferences exacerbate disparities in social outcomes? Under what conditions do majoritarian institutions exacerbate inequalities in the American states? Our argument is that equality is most likely to be threatened under majoritarian institutions when (1) there are systemic participatory biases and/or (2) there are widespread prejudices about particular groups in society. We find that more majoritarian institutions are associated with larger disparities between White and Black life expectancy and poverty rates across the American states, but not differences in educational attainment. We also find that this effect is moderated by racial context, with majoritarian institutions being associated with greater disparities for states with diverse racial contexts and smaller disparities in more homogenous states. These findings suggest that majoritarian institutions operate to the benefit of the White majority, while coming at the cost of minority population outcomes when a racial threat is perceived, and presumably, public opinion is biased.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Too Much Democracy? Exploring the Link between Majoritarian Institutions and Disparities in the American States
- Creators
- Julianna Pacheco - University of IowaScott Lacombe - Smith College
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- State politics & policy quarterly, Vol.25(1), pp.1-21
- Publisher
- Cambridge Univ Press
- DOI
- 10.1017/spq.2024.21
- ISSN
- 1532-4400
- eISSN
- 1946-1607
- Number of pages
- 21
- Language
- English
- Electronic publication date
- 11/27/2024
- Date published
- 03/2025
- Academic Unit
- Political Science; Center for Social Science Innovation
- Record Identifier
- 9984757062202771
Metrics
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