Zsofia S. Ignacz ^*

• Goethe University Frankfurt, Frankfurt, Germany

The paper outlines the key points of a novel research approach to empirically investigating the question of legitimacy in modern societies. This new research approach utilizes a functionalist perspective to expand the concept of legitimacy. Accordingly, the conceptual framework discusses how legitimacy can be employed in different domains of society. In particular, the research approach proposes to conceptualize both the legitimacy of the political system as well as the legitimacy of the economic system. The main objectives of the study are to 1) develop conceptualizations that are empirically plausible for the two types of legitimacies; 2) to empirically verify the operationalization; and 3) to assess the relationship between these two types of legitimacies and identify interdependencies between them. To date, no (visible) research approach has explicitly considered a perspective where a differentiation between political legitimacy and economic legitimacy is acknowledged, despite the centrality of the political and economic domains within societies. The paper reviews established operationalizations of political legitimacy and sketches initial ideas for the operationalization of economic legitimacy, as the latter is not an established nor widely used concept. Furthermore, it provides the first empirical explorative investigation on the relationship between these two key concepts. The basis of the operationalization for both concepts is grounded in subjective legitimacy. Hence, the operationalizations rely largely on public opinion surveys to measure the two types of legitimacies. The paper employs a macro-level research design to understand the relationship between political and economic legitimacy, where the main units of analysis are countries. Thus, legitimacy is a macro-level phenomenon derived from the aggregation of individual-level information. The relationship is explored with cross-lagged analysis. Overall, the paper investigates the viability of this new research approach and potential pitfalls for future research. It identifies how the two types of legitimacy are connected and contributes to taking a step closer toward understanding how governments can ensure stable societies.