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Reevaluating the Middle-Class Protest Paradigm: A Case-Control Study of Democratic Protest Coalitions in Russia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 September 2017

BRYN ROSENFELD*
Affiliation:
University of Southern California
*
Bryn Rosenfeld is Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Southern California, 3518 Trousdale Parkway, Von Kleinsmid Center (VKC), Los Angeles, CA 90089. (brosenfe@usc.edu).
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Abstract

A large literature expects rising middle classes to promote democracy. However, few studies provide direct evidence on this group in nondemocratic settings. This article focuses on politically important differentiation within the middle classes, arguing that middle-class growth in state-dependent sectors weakens potential coalitions in support of democratization. I test this argument using surveys conducted at mass demonstrations in Russia and detailed population data. I also present a new approach to studying protest based on case-control methods from epidemiology. The results reveal that state-sector professionals were significantly less likely to mobilize against electoral fraud, even after controlling for ideology. If this group had participated at the same rate as middle-class professionals from the private sector, I estimate that another 90,000 protesters would have taken to the streets. I trace these patterns of participation to the interaction of individual resources and selective incentives. These findings have implications for authoritarian stability and democratic transitions.

Information

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 2017 
Figure 0

TABLE 1.Descriptive Statistics for Protest Surveys

Figure 1

FIGURE 1.Demographic Comparison of Protesters and the Population

Note: The vertical position of each plotted point gives the share of protesters within a given group, while the horizontal position gives that group’s share of Moscow’s population. The 45º line indicates proportional representation. The vertical (horizontal) bars are 95% confidence intervals based on the sample size of the pooled protest (population) data. Data sources: The Levada Center and FOM.
Figure 2

TABLE 2.Multivariate Model Predicting Protest Participation Using a Case-Control with Contaminated Controls Research Design

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FIGURE 2.Relative Risk of Protest Participation

Note: This figure compares the fractional increase in the risk of protest participation for each group relative to the given baseline. The results are based on a case control with contaminated controls design, which combines a random sample of protesters with a random sample of the population of Moscow and Moscow region. Like the preceding results, these findings indicate that state workers, in general, and the state middle class, in particular, were less likely than their private-sector counterparts to protest. Horizontal bars indicate 95% confidence intervals. Data sources: The Levada Center and the FOM.
Figure 4

TABLE 3.Public-Sector Employees Cite Fewer Alternatives

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TABLE 4.Stability of Public-Sector Employment

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FIGURE 3.The Democratic Protest Coalition by Class and Sector

Note: This figure shows the predicted probability of identifying as a democrat. The sample is all protesters. State middle-class protesters were significantly less likely (p <.05) to identify as democrats than the private-sector middle class and no more likely to identify as democrats than the working class.
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