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Informed Preferences? The Impact of Unions on Workers' Policy Views

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  • Sung Eun Kim
  • Yotam Margalit

Abstract

Despite declining memberships, labor unions still represent large shares of electorates worldwide. Yet their political clout remains contested. To what extent, and in what way, do unions shape workers' political preferences? We address these questions by combining unique survey data of American workers and a set of inferential strategies that exploit two sources of variation: the legal choice that workers face in joining or opting out of unions and the over‐time reversal of a union's policy position. Focusing on the issue of trade, we offer evidence that unions influence their members' policy preferences in a significant and theoretically predictable manner. In contrast, we find that self‐selection into membership accounts at most for a quarter of the observed “union effect.” The study illuminates the impact of unions in cohering workers' voice and provides insight on the role of information provision in shaping how citizens form policy preferences.

Suggested Citation

  • Sung Eun Kim & Yotam Margalit, 2017. "Informed Preferences? The Impact of Unions on Workers' Policy Views," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 61(3), pages 728-743, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:amposc:v:61:y:2017:i:3:p:728-743
    DOI: 10.1111/ajps.12280
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Yan, Alan Nigel, 2023. "The minimal effects of union membership on political attitudes," SocArXiv zabrq, Center for Open Science.
    2. Uwe Jirjahn & Thi Xuan Thu Le, 2024. "Political spillovers of workplace democracy in Germany," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 95(1), pages 5-31, March.
    3. Sung Min Han & Fangjin Ye, 2022. "Labor union, between group inequality, and individual attitudes toward redistribution," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 103(5), pages 1248-1259, September.
    4. Fabian Engler & Linda Voigt, 2023. "There is power in a union? Union members' preferences and the conditional effect of labour unions on left parties in different welfare state programmes," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 61(1), pages 89-109, March.
    5. Fulya Apaydin & Ferit Serkan Öngel & Jonas W. Schmid & Erol Ülker, 2022. "When do workers support executive aggrandizement? Lessons from the recent Turkish experience," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(2), pages 142-159, March.
    6. Sung Eun Kim & Sujin Cha, 2022. "Do Voters Reward Politicians for Trade Liberalization? Evidence from South Korea," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 17(4), pages 751-780, October.
    7. Sinisa Hadziabdic & Lucio Baccaro, 2020. "A Switch or a Process? Disentangling the Effects of Union Membership on Political Attitudes in Switzerland and the UK," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 59(3), pages 466-499, July.
    8. Paul Frymer & Jacob M. Grumbach, 2021. "Labor Unions and White Racial Politics," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 65(1), pages 225-240, January.
    9. Hadziabdic, Sinisa, 2023. "Turning no tides: Union effects on partisan preferences and the working-class metamorphosis," MPIfG Discussion Paper 23/2, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.

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