The Role of Social Capital in Citizen Support for Government Action to Reduce Economic Inequality
This article suggests that an important source of political conflict in Latin America and the Caribbean is the disagreement among the citizenry on the role of government in reducing economic inequality, particularly between the very rich and the poor. While the poor clamor for vigorous public policies to reduce economic inequality, the rich show significantly lower support. The findings of this article, however, indicate that social capital, in the form of interpersonal trust, does work as a conciliatory force between haves and have-nots. The results shed light on the importance of cultivating social capital in the region to boost support among the wealthy for public policies that favor the poor, and consequently for creating the political conditions for governments to fight economic inequality and, in turn, political disparities.