ABSTRACT
The horizontal inequality account emphasizes how people identify with cultural groups, and how group solidarity and social sanctions can aid mobilization in the absence of material resources. The risk of armed conflict is also higher in countries with large socioeconomic differences between ethnic groups, measured in terms of education, infant mortality, economic asset ownership, and income. The relationship between socioeconomic horizontal inequality and conflict has been established across studies with various approaches to measurement. The scope conditions for findings about horizontal inequality and conflict depend on what groups researchers compare. Most studies of inequality, identity, and conflict focus on armed conflict between the government and at least non-state actor. Most conflict datasets capture only conflicts and campaigns with maximalist demands that breach a certain threshold of deaths or participation. The concept of relative deprivation is central to theories of horizontal inequality and conflict.
