Abstract:

Variation in the political ideologies we are exposed to as young people account for a range of between-generation differences in political attitudes. Using cross-national differences in national economic conditions in OECD countries, I estimate the impact of growing up under neoliberal policies on future beliefs about economic justice. Using a "quasi-cohort" fixed effects design, I find that economic growth, unemployment, or levels of redistribution between the ages of 20 and 25 have no effect on respondent beliefs about a just world. However, the ideological context has a significant and lasting effect: those socialized in the "neoliberal era" (1981-2008, i.e., Generation X) are more likely to have optimistic views about income equality, competition, wealth accumulation, and private business. Neoliberal socialization has no effect on confidence in the government or other social values, implying it affects attitudes by incentivizing the adoption of new "scripts of personhood" that center the role of work and merit in determining what is "just." 

• Presented at Harvard Comparative Politics workshop (3/21)