Funded Research

The supported project will study how a person’s ability to control their working conditions in the United States impacts their internal and external efficacy, in turn shaping their level of civic and political participation. Political theorists have long argued that a person’s participation in workplace governance develops the confidence and skills that facilitate civic and political engagement. In practice, however, workers in the US have very little formal control over their working conditions: Union density continues to decline, and employers enjoy broad legal rights over the management of firms. And while workers could in theory quit their jobs if they refuse to accept their working conditions, their ability to do so may be limited by a public-private welfare system that frequently conditions benefits on employment. The goal of the project, then, is to study workers’ subjective sense of control over their working conditions and how it informs their democratic participation in civic and political matters.To this end, the CAPE grant supports a survey targeting workers in precarious and lower-income sectors of the labor market. The survey consists of both closed- and open-ended questions asking respondents about their efficacy in the labor market: That is, their perceived ability either to directly influence conditions in their workplace or to secure a more desirable job if needed. The survey will then study how this subjective position in the labor market informs respondents’ attitudes towards authority structures more generally and their efficacy in political and civic affairs. The results of the survey will be made available to others in the APE community interested in studying the relationship between the labor market and political behavior.