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When do the poor vote for the right-wing and why: Status inequality and vote choice in the Indian states

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  • Pavithra Suryanarayan

Abstract

What explains the popularity of right-wing parties amongst the poor? This paper argues that in hierarchical societies with high social-status inequality, poor high-status voters may ally with rich high-status voters if they believe their social-status is under threat. I demonstrate this in the context of the Indian states by exploiting an announcement by the Government of India in 1990 to implement affirmative action for lower castes—an intervention that threatened to weaken the social-status of upper-caste Brahmans.

Suggested Citation

  • Pavithra Suryanarayan, 2017. "When do the poor vote for the right-wing and why: Status inequality and vote choice in the Indian states," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2017-20, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    • Handle: RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp-2017-20
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    Cited by:

    1. Nishant Chadha & Bharti Nandwani, 2017. "Ethnic fragmentation and school provision in India," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2017-176, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    2. Nishant Chadha & Bharti Nandwani, 2017. "Ethnic fragmentation and school provision in India," WIDER Working Paper Series 176, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).

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    Keywords

    Ethnic voting; Right-wing voting;

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