The Role of the Middle Class in Distributional Outcomes: Chile and South Korea

Abstract

This article examines the role of the middle classes in the divergent distributional outcomes that characterize South Korea and Chile. While equality has been historically low in South Korea, it has been high in Chile throughout the twentieth century, increasing substantially during the period of military rule. The analysis provides a historically grounded explanation of the role of the middle classes in these outcomes, emphasizing processes over time and contextualized comparisons. In Chile, the middle class became sufficiently politically powerful to obtain social improvements for itself, but reacted against popular mobilization and allied with the propertied classes, supporting a military regime that pursued policies that worsened inequality. In South Korea, on the other hand, the middle class, not threatened by intense mobilization from below, played an active role in keeping inequality low through the twentieth century. The timing and thoroughness of land redistribution, the pace of industrialization, and the extent of pressures from the popular classes and of political polarization, all powerfully shaped middle-class distributional politics. Hence, middle-class distributional politics is integral to the power struggles that shape distributional outcomes.