Politics and Privilege - by Rory McVeigh & William Carbonaro & Chang Liu & Kenadi Silcox

About the Book

""In the United States, the bottom 50% of households owns 1% of the nation's wealth whereas the top 10% owns 76%. Scholars and political pundits have long viewed democracy as the antidote for economic inequality but lawmakers are either uninterested or ineffective when it comes to addressing the problem. Conservative politicians defend tax breaks for the wealthy while riling up their constituents with wars over drag shows and critical race theory in school curricula. The Republican Party, which has long been the Party most concerned with preserving wealth for those at the top, now draws a significant majority of its support from voters who are not wealthy and who lack a four year college degree. In Politics and Privilege, Rory McVeigh and colleagues use data from a novel experiment conducted with more than 2,600 participants. In this experiment, the authors examined whether participants were more likely to support an organization when its website was explicit about combating racism, sexism, homophobia, xenophobia, or religious bigotry compared to the same website that only mentioned economic equality. Situating their findings within discussions of historical construction of status hierarchies and their relationship to party politics, the authors argue that a strong desire to preserve status privilege curtails efforts to form progressive alliances and creates polarizations around pressing issues such as economic inequality, climate change, gun violence, and access to health care.""-- Provided by publisher.

Book Synopsis

In the United States, the bottom 50 percent of households hold only 1 percent of the nation's wealth. Scholars and commentators have long viewed democracy as the antidote to economic inequality, but US electoral politics bears little resemblance to a struggle between the haves and the have-nots. What makes extreme disparities of wealth and income so persistent, and why has the political process failed to address the problem?

Based on data from an innovative experiment, this book presents a bold new theory that shows why American politics revolves around status differences, not class conflict. Analyzing a sample of nearly 2,600 participants, the authors investigate whether Americans are more likely to support a social-change organization if it explicitly opposes racism, sexism, homophobia, xenophobia, and religious bigotry or if it focuses exclusively on economic equality. Drawing on the results, they argue that privileged groups' desire to preserve their status is the primary obstacle to forming progressive alliances. Status hierarchies are at the heart of political polarization, which stalls legislative efforts to reduce economic inequality or tackle pressing issues such as climate change, gun violence, and access to health care. Rigorous and timely, Politics and Privilege demonstrates why an agenda that simultaneously addresses economic and status inequalities is essential to progressive politics today.

Review Quotes

Compelling and timely, Politics and Privilege is a brilliant account of how status hierarchies shape American politics and guide political behavior, from worker unity to racial politics to political polarization. With a clever experimental research design and a fresh take on political theory, this book is an absolutely essential read for understanding contemporary politics, crises of U.S. democracy, and where we go from here.--Hajar Yazdiha, author of The Struggle for the People's King: How Politics Transforms the Memory of the Civil Rights Movement

Politics and Privilege offers a clear-eyed and insightful roadmap to understand how status differences drive today's polarized politics. With its innovative experimental research design, elevation of voices across the political spectrum, and surprisingly hopeful conclusions around prospects for political change, this book redefines and renews the promise of social science in perilous times.--David Cunningham, author of Klansville, U.S.A.: The Rise and Fall of the Civil Rights-Era Ku Klux Klan?

About the Author

Rory McVeigh is the Nancy Reeves Dreux Professor of Sociology and director of the Center for the Study of Social Movements at the University of Notre Dame. His books include The Politics of Losing: Trump, the Klan, and the Mainstreaming of Resentment (Columbia, 2019).

William Carbonaro is a professor of sociology at the University of Notre Dame.

Chang Liu is a graduate student in sociology at the University of Notre Dame.

Kenadi Silcox is a graduate student in sociology at the University of Notre Dame.