The Partisan Politics of New Social Risks in Advanced Postindustrial Democracies: Social Protection for Labor Market Outsiders

Advanced postindustrialization generates numerous challenges for the European social model. Central among these challenges is declining income, unstable employment, and inadequate training of semi- and unskilled workers. In this chapter, I assess the partisan basis of support for social policies that address the needs of these marginalized workers. I specifically consider the impacts of postindustrial cleavages among core constituencies of social democratic parties on the capacity of these parties to pursue inclusive social policies. I argue – and find support for in empirical analyses – that encompassing labor organization is the most important factor in strengthening the ability of left parties to build successful coalitions in support of outsider-friendly policies. I go beyond existing work on the topic by considering the full array of postindustrial cleavages facing left parties, by more fully elaborating why encompassing labor organization is crucial, and by considering a more complete set of measures of outsider policies than extant work. I compare my arguments and findings to important new work that stresses coalition building and partisan politics but minimizes the role of class organization

Wählerwanderungen rund um die Schweizer Sozialdemokratie

Fast 50 Prozent der Wähler*innen, die bei den nationalen Wahlen 2015 der SP Schweiz ihre Stimme gegeben hatten, entschieden sich bei den nationalen Wahlen von 2019 anders. Wer der Urne 2019 nicht gleich gänzlich fernblieb, wanderte vornehmlich von der SP zu den Grünen ab, während die medial oft beschworenen Wanderungen von der SP zur SVP praktisch inexistent waren und tatsächlich seit Beginn unserer Datenreihe Mitte der 1990er-Jahre nicht zu beobachten sind. Wieso? Erklärt die Zusammensetzung der Wählerschaften dieser Parteien diese Muster? Die Einstellungen der Wähler*innen? Und worin unterscheiden sich SP und GPS aus Sicht der Wähler*innen überhaupt? Könnten Unterschiede in der Wahrnehmung der Kompetenz von SP und GPS seitens der Wähler*innen erklären, wieso Wähler*innen (immer häufiger) von der SP zur GPS oder (immer seltener) von der GPS zur SP wechseln

Das Wählerpotenzial der Schweizer Sozialdemokratie

40 bis 45% aller Wähler*innen in der Schweiz können sich vorstellen, die SP zu wählen, aber nur etwa 40% von diesen potenziellen Wähler* innen tun es tatsächlich. Die SP verfügt demnach über ein beträchtliches unausgeschöpftes Wählerpotenzial. Überlappungen in den Wählerpotenzialen finden sich im links-grünen Parteienspektrum, aber kaum mit rechten Parteien: Die potenziell zusätzlich gewinnbaren SP-Wähler*innen finden sich vor allem in den Wählerschaften der Grünen und Grünliberalen und bei den jungen Nichtwählenden. Wer sind diese potenziell gewinnbaren Wähler*innen? Sie sind in der Tendenz jung, mehrheitlich weiblich und gut gebildet. Thematisch halten sie umweltpolitische, gesellschaftspolitische, internationale und institutionelle Herausforderungen für die wichtigsten Probleme, welche die Schweiz lösen muss. Im Einklang mit dieser Problemwahrnehmung finden im sozialdemokratischen Wählerpotenzial progressive gesellschaftspolitische Positionen die grösste positive Resonanz, stärker noch als sozialpolitisch expansive Positionen. Das Spiegelbild der potenziellen Gewinne bilden hohe potenzielle Verluste zu den beiden grünen Parteien: Gut 70 Prozent der SP-Wählenden können sich auch vorstellen, die grüne Partei zu wählen, fast 40 Prozent können sich auch vorstellen, die grünliberale Partei zu wählen

Solidarity in times of inequality: trade union politics and union membership effects

Europe has been marked by many profound changes since the 1980s. Among those prominently discussed in the political economy literature are the massive decline in trade union membership, the alarming rise in income inequality, and the increasingly disproportionate distribution of labor market risks. This thesis combines these issues and explores how unionization relates to income and risk inequality by investigating the roles of trade unions and trade union membership in the political arena: One article analyzes if and how unions represent high-risk individuals in the legislative arena by lobbying for labor market outsiders in dualization reforms; three articles examine how union membership shapes electoral demand for policies alleviating income and labor market risk inequality and electoral support for left-wing parties in pursuit of such policies. In doing so, this thesis contributes to our understanding of solidarity in the context of inequality and how union decline might fuel inequality

Union Membership and Electoral Demand for Redistribution among Left-authoritarians

Against the background of rising income inequality, this paper examines the role of trade unions in sustaining electoral demand for redistribution. We focus on the ability of trade unions to translate their members’ pro-redistribution preferences into pro-redistribution voting, despite the widespread presence of anti-immigration attitudes among union members and the population at large. We argue that union members are less likely to realign their vote choice with their preferences on cultural issues and more likely to choose a party aligned with their pro-redistribution preferences than non-members. Using data from the Inequality and Politics survey from 2020, we analyze the association between union membership and left voting (capturing roughly pro-redistribution voting) in fourteen democracies. Employing unique questions on union membership, we leverage variation in the political orientation of the trade unions in line with literature emphasizing heterogeneity in the “union effect”. We find that it matters whether individuals are affiliated with confederations rooted in the socialist labor movement. The paper contributes to the literature on the politics of inequality by showing how de-unionization matters. It also speaks to the literature on “working-class populism” by highlighting the importance of intermediary organizations for political behaviour.</p

Enlightenment and solidarity: National union movements, distributive norms and the union effect on support for redistribution

Using data from the European Social Survey (2002-14), this paper explores the effect of union membership on support for redistribution. We hypothesize that the wage-bargaining practices of unions promote egalitarian distributive norms among low-wage and high-wage union members alike and that distributive norms in turn lead union members to support redistribution. Consistent with our expectations, the empirical analysis shows that the solidarity effect of union membership is strongest when unions encompass a very large share of the labor force or primarily organize low-wage workers. We also show that low-wage workers have become a significantly less important union constituency in many European countries over the time period covered by our analysis

Heterogeneity of the trade union effect on support for redistribution in western Europe

Many analyses of cross-national survey data find that union members are more likely to be supportive of redistributive policies than respondents who are not union members. Analyzing British, German, and Swedish survey data, this paper demonstrates that the union membership effect on support for redistribution varies depending on the kinds of unions to which individuals belong. Regardless of their own income, wage-earners who belong to unions whose membership encompasses a wide swath of the income distribution tend to be more supportive of redistribution than members of unions that are less inclusive. This suggests that the decline of union membership among poorly paid wage-earners—a common trend across OECD countries—has more far-reaching implications for the politics of redistribution than commonly recognized

Varieties of trade unions and support for redistribution

Many studies of cross-national survey data find that union members are more likely to be supportive of redistributive policies than respondents who are not union members. Analysing British, German and Swedish survey data, this article demonstrates that the union membership effect on support for redistribution varies depending on the kinds of unions to which individuals belong. Regardless of their own income, wage-earners who belong to unions whose membership encompasses a wide swath of the income distribution tend to be more supportive of redistribution than members of unions that are less inclusive. This suggests that the decline of union membership among poorly paid wage-earners—a common trend across OECD countries—has more far-reaching implications for the politics of redistribution than commonly recognised