@article{b06e195c7c7741909fd122451019fd1d,
title = "Knowledge of Social Rights as Political Knowledge",
abstract = "Conventional measures of political knowledge assess citizens{\textquoteright} familiarity with institutions, political parties, and political actors at the national level. We argue that other types of political knowledge are also important to democratic citizenship. We focus on knowledge about social rights (i.e., government guarantees that predominantly concern material well-being). We develop a new systemized concept that we call knowledge of social rights (KSR) and argue that KSR is particularly important in lower and middle-income countries. Using original survey data from Argentina, Brazil, Malawi, and Pakistan and secondary survey data from the Afrobarometer, we show ways in which KSR is empirically distinct from political knowledge as traditionally measured. The established correlates of conventional political knowledge in the United States also predict political knowledge in the contexts we examine. In contrast, these relationships are attenuated or in some cases reversed when we examine knowledge of social rights as an outcome. These results contribute to a growing literature that highlights the diverse areas of citizen knowledge that are relevant for contemporary politics. Our findings also point to the need for more research on forms of political knowledge outside the long-standing wealthy democracies.",
keywords = "Latin America, Pakistan, Political knowledge, Social rights, Sub-Saharan Africa",
author = "Rebecca Weitz-Shapiro and Winters, {Matthew S.}",
note = "The survey data from Brazil in this paper were collected in collaboration with Luke Plutowski, who organized and programmed the survey. That survey data collection was reviewed and approved by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Institutional Review Board (Protocol #20294), which served as the reviewing IRB by arrangement with the Brown University IRB. The survey data from Argentina in this paper were collected in collaboration with Virginia Oliveros. That survey data collection was determined exempt by the Brown University Institutional Review Board (Protocol #201002827) and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Institutional Review Board (Protocol #21332). The survey data from Pakistan in this paper were collected in collaboration with Rehan Jamil, who oversaw all fieldwork related to the survey. That survey data collection was reviewed and approved by the Brown University Institutional Review Board (Protocol #1806002136). The survey data from Malawi in this paper were collected in collaboration with Jake Bowers, Lula Chen, Chris Grady, Boniface Dulani, and Mwayi Masumbu. That survey data collection was reviewed and approved by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Institutional Review Board (Protocol #17637). Thanks to Omar Afzaal, Beenish Pervaiz, Rehan Jamil, Liz Zechmeister, Lorena Barberia, Diego Correa, Kelly Piazza, and Virginia Oliveros for comments on survey questions. Thanks to Kristen Bail, Kylee Britzman, Anna Nakai, Eva Rios, Sofia Vidotto, and Miles Williams for excellent research assistance. Thanks to Hannah Baron, Gabrielle Kruks-Wisner, Noam Lupu, Spencer Piston, Paul Testa, and participants at seminars at Boston University, Brown University, Washington University in St Louis, and the University of Washington for comments on an earlier draft. Replication data are available on the Harvard Dataverse website (https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/U1UYOX).",
year = "2023",
month = dec,
doi = "10.1007/s11109-022-09804-3",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "45",
pages = "1911--1931",
journal = "Political Behavior",
issn = "0190-9320",
publisher = "Springer New York",
number = "4",
}