Historically marginalized groups and ideological representation in legislatures

Abstract

A widespread assumption in political science research and among the public is that politicians from marginalized groups, including women, disadvantaged racial–ethnic groups, and younger adults, are more leftist than their counterparts. However, empirical evidence to substantiate this claim is generally scarce. In this letter, we analyze three decades of individual-level elite data from Latin America and find that MPs from marginalized groups tend not to differ ideologically from MPs from dominant groups, nor is their inclusion associated with posterior changes in their party's ideology. These results challenge common misconceptions about elite ideology and contribute to bridging two lively literatures on the ideological and inclusionary transformations shaping current Western democracies.