Sociological Review of Inequality and Corruption
Sociological Review of Inequality and Corruption
Sociological Review
Reference:
A Comparative Study of Inequality and Corruption
By Jong-sung You and Sanjeev Khagram
From American Sociological Review Vol. 70, No. 1, 2005
Objectives of Study
To give a theoretical account of why income inequality increases corruption
To show the explanatory ability of income inequality and the interaction between inequality and democracy tested empirically against competing conventional explanations of corruption
To conduct a methodological study, using statistical techniques, in finding the causes of corruption.
Methodology
The study tackles the issue on corruption using both theoretical and methodological techniques to approach the hypotheses. The first part of the paper gives a detailed account of instances of corruption all throughout the world and all throughout history, citing trends that have prevailed throughout the course of history. Moreover, the author makes an argument that corruption and inequality are somehow correlated, much more than previous works have shown. It points out the cyclical nature of the two, that the presence of corruption eventually leads to inequality, and that experiencing inequality would lead one to succumbing to corruption.
The second and the more dominantly used approach to discuss the issues raised was the use of methodological techinques,