The decline in perceptions of democracy has been well documented in recent years, with this coinciding with a general decline in the respect given to authority in general.  The Brexit campaign, for instance, featured a widely publicized attack on the experts who by and large viewed the leave campaign as foolhardy.

New research from the University of British Columbia suggests that such pessimism is highly linked to our socioeconomic status, with those with a lower status far more likely to have a negative view of decision-makers.

Perceptions of power

The researchers quizzed over 1,000 participants, specifically examining two distinct and viable paths to power.  The first of these would be via fear, manipulation, and coercion, while the second would be more rooted in respect and collaboration.

“We were interested in how socioeconomic status might affect one’s view on how power is gained and maintained,” the researchers explain. “We also wondered how identifying with a theory of power might be associated with one’s interpersonal and societal trust.”

The data reveals that people with lower socioeconomic status tended to be less-trusting, and therefore believe that power tends to result from coercion and manipulation rather than respect and collaboration.  Those with higher socioeconomic status tend to think the opposite.

“We also found that people held one theory of power or the other–but not both simultaneously,” the researchers explain. “As income inequality continues to rise, and we have a widening gap between the powerful and powerless, these results help us understand how these groups view the human hierarchy in which they live.”

The dividing line

What is less clear is quite where the dividing line exists that sees our opinion flip from one perspective to the other.  Nonetheless, the researchers believe their work may provide some valuable insight as to why people have the views they do.

They argue that central to the division is a matter of trust, and the importance of it when deciding that someone’s power is largely justified.  They suggest that greater involvement in the democratic process may help, as it’s well known that people with low socioeconomic status are less likely to vote than their higher status peers.

“Part of that is structural–it may be more difficult for them to get time off work–but I suspect theories of power play into it as well,” the researcher explains. “If you think powerful people are coercive and corrupt and you can’t trust any of them, perhaps you think it doesn’t matter who is in office–but that’s not a healthy democracy, so I see this research as a building block for future work in this area.”