Is There Such Thing as Middle Class Values? Class Differences, Values and Political Orientations in Latin America

32 Pages Posted: 4 Feb 2012

See all articles by Luis Felipe López-Calva

Luis Felipe López-Calva

World Bank

Jamele Rigolini

New York University (NYU) - Department of Economics

Florencia Torche

New York University (NYU) - Department of Sociology

Abstract

Middle class values have long been perceived as drivers of social cohesion and growth. In this paper we investigate the relation between class (measured by the position in the income distribution), values, and political orientations using comparable values surveys for six Latin American countries. We find that both a continuous measure of income and categorical measures of income-based class are robustly associated with values. Both income and class tend to display a similar association to values and political orientations as education, although differences persist in some important dimensions. Overall, we do not find strong evidence of any "middle class particularism": values appear to gradually shift with income, and middle class values lay between the ones of poorer and richer classes. If any, the only peculiarity of middle class values is moderation. We also find changes in values across countries to be of much larger magnitude than the ones dictated by income, education and individual characteristics, suggesting that individual values vary primarily within bounds dictated by each society.

Keywords: middle class, income, values, political orientations

JEL Classification: D3, D7, O1, Z1

Suggested Citation

Lopez-Calva, Luis Felipe and Rigolini, Jamele and Torche, Florencia, Is There Such Thing as Middle Class Values? Class Differences, Values and Political Orientations in Latin America. IZA Discussion Paper No. 6292, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1999320 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1999320

Luis Felipe Lopez-Calva (Contact Author)

World Bank ( email )

1818 H Street NW
Washington, DC 20433
United States

Jamele Rigolini

New York University (NYU) - Department of Economics ( email )

269 Mercer Street, 7th Floor
New York, NY 10011
United States

Florencia Torche

New York University (NYU) - Department of Sociology ( email )

New York, NY 10012
United States

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