Widening Inequalities and Political Representation for Marginalized Groups

The political voices of women, people of color, and low-income people have long been under-represented in the American political system. A growing body of literature suggests that this under-representation may lead to vast disparities in government responsiveness, and that this unresponsiveness may lead to policies that serve, in turn, to widen social and economic inequalities. Perhaps in response to this unequal representation, there has been an explosion in the number of advocacy organizations representing marginalized groups over the past thirty years, just as inequality has widened. But as inequalities rise and marginalized groups are left even further behind, it is important to understand how these advocacy organizations respond to the effects of widening economic disparities on the constituencies they represent. Existing research does not provide a clear picture of whether, and if so how, these organizations have helped mitigate the effects of rising inequality on marginalized groups.

Political scientist Dara Strolovitch proposes to examine the effects of rising inequality on the agendas, efficacy, and operation of approximately six hundred nationally-active advocacy groups, including civil and women’s rights organizations, anti-poverty groups, and labor unions. Using a database of advocacy groups developed in two previous studies, Strolovitch plans to gather and analyze new and existing survey data to answer questions about key facets of advocacy for marginalized groups: Have increasing inequalities led to changes in organizations’ policy priorities such that their agendas address the implications of these disparities for their constituents? What happens to political opportunities to advance different kinds of social and economic justice issues in the midst of increasing inequalities? What are the effects of increased inequality on the resources available to organizations that advocate on behalf of marginalized groups, and how do changing resources affect their ability to increase democratic responsiveness to marginalized groups? Do advocacy organizations, which rely more heavily on contributions than fees, tend to be more responsive to the interests of their wealthier constituents to sustain their activities?

To address these questions, Strolovitch plans to collect three kinds of data that together would constitute the most comprehensive available source of information about organizations that advocate on behalf of marginalized groups: (1) measures of organizations’ resources, policy priorities, and representational activities from publicly-available sources and data; (2) in-depth interviews with officers at advocacy groups; and (3) a third survey of advocacy organizations to capture economic and political changes since Strolovitch’s previous studies in 2000 and 2007. The survey would be conducted by the University of Chicago Survey Lab.