Living in Hard Times: A Thousand and One Hypotheses on Citizens’ Reactions to Economic Crises

This paper discusses the ways in which citizens react to economic crises from a theoretical point of view. In the first part we review the literature on economic crises in order to provide an operational definition that can be used by researchers interested in studying the political responses to crises. Such a definition can be used to identify economic crises for the purpose of empirical research. In the second and most important part we suggest a number of hypotheses regarding citizens’ reactions to economic crises which can be derived from existing research. Our discussion cross-cuts the political/non-political, the individual/collective, and the private/public divide. We suggest hypotheses concerning how citizens react to economic crises through electoral and non-electoral political participation, within their household and communities, and in their personal and daily lives. These hypotheses should stimulate empirical work on citizens react to economic crises and their social and political consequences.