EXC 2035:  The Politics of Inequality: Perceptions, Participation and Policies

• Subject Area: Social Sciences
• Term: since 2019
• Website: Homepage
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 390681379

Inequality as a social phenomenon is profoundly influenced by political structures and processes.Politics and policies can exacerbate, perpetuate or mitigate inequality. The study of inequality is a well-established field in the social sciences, but existing research has neglected the political causes and consequences of inequality. For this reason, our Cluster of Excellence will focus on the politics of inequality. Our fundamental research objective is to understand which social, political and institutional conditions explain why a given distribution of resources becomes politicised in some instances, but not in others. More specifically, we aim to explain when and why citizens perceive particular distributions as “inequality” and the extent to which these perceptions shape individual preferences regarding government policies. We will examine the conditions under which public grievances related to inequality are expressed through political participation and mobilisation, explore politicians’ reactions to public demands and political mobilisation efforts, and determine the effects of political decisions on structural inequalities."Perceptions", "participation" and "policies" are the three research areas of the cluster. The contemporary period will be the principal period of investigation. Instead of restricting its scope of analysis to only Western democracies, our cluster will adopt a global perspective. In order to expand the perspective of classical research on inequality through an interdisciplinary focus on political processes, our cluster will consolidate the existing expertise and efforts of researchers in political science, sociology, economics, empirical education research, linguistics and psychology at the University of Konstanz. Furthermore, the collaboration between social science and linguistics promises to deliver new insights regarding the role of language in political discourses about inequality.Our Cluster of Excellence "The Politics of Inequality: Perceptions, Participation and Policies" will build on and further develop existing structures at the University of Konstanz. The topic of inequality has emerged as a central cross-cutting theme in the research programme of the Graduate School of Decision Sciences (GSDS), which has been funded through the German Excellence Initiative since 2012. The majority of the principal investigators (PIs) involved in our proposed cluster have been PIs in the GSDS. Not only have they made significant individual and internationally visible contributions to the study of inequality from different perspectives, they are already collaborating in joint research projects that span departmental and disciplinary boundaries. Our cluster will integrate these research initiatives, further intensify scientific collaboration, and enhance the university’s international research profile by advancing innovative and interdisciplinary top-level research in Konstanz.

• DFG Programme: Clusters of Excellence (ExStra)
• Applicant Institution: Universität Konstanz
• Spokespersons: Professor Dr. Marius Busemeyer; Professorin Dr. Claudia Diehl; Professorin Dr. Gabriele Spilker, since 10/2022; Professor Dr. Nils B. Weidmann, until 10/2022
• Participating Researchers: Professorin Dr. Nathalie Behnke; Professorin Luna Bellani; Professor Christian Breunig, Ph.D.; Professorin Dr. Miriam Butt; Professor Dr. Urs Fischbacher; Professor Dr. Thomas Götz; Professor Dr. Thomas Hinz; Professorin Dr. Katharina Holzinger; Professor Dr. Andreas Jungherr; Professor Dr. Sebastian Koos; Professor Dr. Florian Kunze; Professorin Dr. Tanja Kupisch; Professor Dr. Dirk Leuffen; Professor Dr. Theodoros Marinis; Professor Dr. Ulf-Dietrich Reips; Professor Dr. Gerald Schneider; Professorin Dr. Almuth Scholl; Professor Dr. Guido Schwerdt; Professor Dr. Peter Selb; Professorin Dr. Susanne Strauß; Professor Nick Zubanov; Professorin Dr. Christina Isabel Zuber