The Social Origins of Democracy and Authoritarianism Reconsidered: Prussia and Sweden in Comparison
In a large social science literature, unequal rural class structures (“landlordism”) are associated with authoritarian political outcomes. This paper revisits the debate, focus- ing on the landlords’ ideological domination of the lower classes and anti-democratic attitudes in estate-dominated areas. We contrast the authoritarian landlordism model with a perspective where inequality fosters leftist
