Why the Dog Doesn't Bark: Income, Attitudes & the Redistribution of Wealth

Abstract

The absence of a strong leftist movement among America's poor has often been the subject of speculation by political scientists. In the essay below Jennifer Hochschild seeks to explain why poor Americans have failed to demand a redistribution of wealth, contrary to expectations based on classical and liberal political theory, psychological theories, empirical observation, and current politics. For purposes of her survey the author has divided low-income opponents of redistribution into five groups, each exhibiting varying degrees of acceptance of their occupational position and income. She finds that the relative disparities of their views are less decisive than the combined anti- redistributive effect.