Enough is enough?

This project examines the relationship between economic inequality and support for democracy among citizens. Although public debate tends to highlight the
danger of economic inequality to democracy, the scientific evidence on this relationship are mixed and seemingly contradictory. 

One explanation for this is that insufficient taken into account (a) how the nature of this relationship depends on the duration and degree of inequality of societies, and b) how inequality differentially affects on citizens from different income groups within those societies. 

This project therefore addresses the question of under what circumstances and for whom economic inequality leads to a tipping point in support for democracy, and what causal mechanisms underlie this. 

In doing so, we integrate relevant insights from different fields of science such as political science, political economy, sociology and social psychology. We also build on insights from climate science about tipping points, where seemingly stable systems can undergo abrupt changes through an interplay of underlying mechanisms. 

Theories are tested with a combination of macro-comparative, multi-level and experimental micro-level data.