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Poor prospects-Not inequality-Motivate political violence

Bartusevicius,Henrikas
; 
van Leeuwen,Florian
Abstract
Despite extensive scholarly interest in the association between economic inequality and political violence, the micro-level mechanisms through which the former influences the latter are not well understood. Drawing on pioneering theories of political violence, social psychological research on relative deprivation, and prospect theory from behavioral economics, we examine individual-level processes that underpin the relationship between inequality and political violence. We present two arguments: despite being a key explanatory variable in existing research, perceived lower economic status vis-à-vis other individuals (an indicator of relative deprivation) is unlikely to motivate people to participate in violence; by contrast, although virtually unexplored, a projected decrease in one’s own economic status (prospective decremental deprivation) is likely to motivate violence. Multilevel analyses of probability samples from many African countries provide evidence to support these claims. Based on this, we posit that focusing on changes in living conditions, rather than the status quo, is key for understanding political violence.
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This research was supported by the Innovation Fund Denmark (4110-00002B).
Date
2022
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Tilburg University Research Output Collection
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ATTITUDES, CIVIL CONFLICT, ECONOMIC SHOCKS, HORIZONTAL INEQUALITIES, INCOME, MODEL, RELATIVE DEPRIVATION, SOCIETIES, VARIABLES, civil conflict, decremental deprivation, economic inequality, individual-level analysis, political violence, prospect theory, relative deprivation, social psychology, SDG 10 - Reduced Inequalities, SDG 16 - Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
Citation
Bartusevicius, H & van Leeuwen, F 2022, 'Poor prospects-Not inequality-Motivate political violence', Journal of Conflict Resolution, vol. 66, no. 7-8, pp. 1393-1421. https://doi.org/10.1177/00220027221074647
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https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14602/76179
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info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
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