Political correctness and elite prestige

Esther Hauk; Javier Ortega

Political correctness and elite prestige

Esther Hauk
, Javier Ortega

Barcelona Graduate School of Economics
Kingston University

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Consider a society where the prestige of orthodox views is linked to the prestige of the elite. Heterodox individuals are less likely to express their views if other peers refrain from doing so and if the elite is prestigious. In turn, corruption by the elite is less easily detected if orthodox views dominate. We characterize equilibrium self-denial and corruption and show that an exogenous increase in the range of orthodox views may result in a decrease in the total number of individuals truthfully expressing their views. Some features of the model are shown to be compatible with US data.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	122-155
Number of pages	34
Journal	Journal of Theoretical Politics
Volume	37
Issue number	2
Early online date	17 Jan 2025
Publication status	Published - Apr 2025

Bibliographical note

Note: This research was funded by Spanish Agencia Estatal de Investigación, through the Severo Ochoa Programme for Centers of Excellence in R&D (Barcelona School of Economics CEX2019-000915-S); from the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities through project PGC2018-097898-B-100 MCIU/AEI/FEDER, EU; from the Government of Catalonia under project 2017 SGR 1571 AGAUR Generalitat de Catalunya and from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through research project PID2021-126209OB-I00 funded by MCIN-AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by ERDF A way of making Europe.

Keywords

Politics and international studies
D7
political correctness
preference falsification
Z1
Overton window
social pressure
Conformity
Z13
C72

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https://doi.org/10.1177/09516298241304713

Cite this

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title = "Political correctness and elite prestige",

abstract = "Consider a society where the prestige of orthodox views is linked to the prestige of the elite. Heterodox individuals are less likely to express their views if other peers refrain from doing so and if the elite is prestigious. In turn, corruption by the elite is less easily detected if orthodox views dominate. We characterize equilibrium self-denial and corruption and show that an exogenous increase in the range of orthodox views may result in a decrease in the total number of individuals truthfully expressing their views. Some features of the model are shown to be compatible with US data.",

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N2 - Consider a society where the prestige of orthodox views is linked to the prestige of the elite. Heterodox individuals are less likely to express their views if other peers refrain from doing so and if the elite is prestigious. In turn, corruption by the elite is less easily detected if orthodox views dominate. We characterize equilibrium self-denial and corruption and show that an exogenous increase in the range of orthodox views may result in a decrease in the total number of individuals truthfully expressing their views. Some features of the model are shown to be compatible with US data.

AB - Consider a society where the prestige of orthodox views is linked to the prestige of the elite. Heterodox individuals are less likely to express their views if other peers refrain from doing so and if the elite is prestigious. In turn, corruption by the elite is less easily detected if orthodox views dominate. We characterize equilibrium self-denial and corruption and show that an exogenous increase in the range of orthodox views may result in a decrease in the total number of individuals truthfully expressing their views. Some features of the model are shown to be compatible with US data.

KW - Politics and international studies

KW - D7

KW - political correctness

KW - preference falsification

KW - Z1

KW - Overton window

KW - social pressure

KW - Conformity

KW - Z13

KW - C72

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EP - 155

JO - Journal of Theoretical Politics

JF - Journal of Theoretical Politics

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ER -

Political correctness and elite prestige

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

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