Choosing to Work for the State

Author(s):  
Bryn Rosenfeld

This chapter uses survey data to investigate the political orientations and career aspirations of students who intend to join Russia's public-sector. It examines a range of factors highlighted by existing cross-national research on public employment in established democracies and developing states. It also emphasizes how the pre-existing networks are considered the most important factor that shape public-sector career preferences. The chapter centers on students' political preferences before they enter the labor market, providing a research design that show that democratic attitudes have virtually no bearing on career choices. It builds on the research design by using a panel study of new labor market entrants.

Author(s):  
Bryn Rosenfeld

This chapter provides a background on Ukraine when it was struggling to consolidate democracy. It examines existing theories that expect human capital formation and a growing middle-class to enhance the autocratic middle-class prospects for democratization. By focusing on the case of Ukraine, it also explores whether dependence on the state for economic opportunities and life chances moderates middle-class demands for democratic institutions. The chapter uses a panel survey spanning the Orange Revolution, which assesses how the distinctive political orientations of different groups within the middle-class affected the nature of protest coalitions during Ukraine's 2004 democratic breakthrough. It makes use of a difference-in-differences design to demonstrate that reliance on the state for economic opportunity caused the political preferences of new labor market entrants to diverge.


2020 ◽  
pp. 1-23
Author(s):  
Marc Dixon

This chapter identifies the historical roots of union decline in a period of unparalleled labor strength—the 1950s. Like their contemporary counterparts, unions in the 1950s often struggled to secure influential political allies, to forge coalitions with groups outside of the labor movement, to push back against powerful business interests, and to make a compelling case for labor rights. These weaknesses came to a head at the end of the decade in conflicts over right-to-work laws and public-sector collective bargaining rights in the industrial Midwest. Social movement theory is presented to account for labor’s mixed showing across the heavily unionized states of the Midwest in the 1950s and to identify the political, organizational, and strategic factors critical to labor success then and now. The principal case studies and research design are introduced.


2016 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 381-407 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giedo Jansen

Abstract It is often held that the self-employed are an economically conservative, political right-wing class. Previous studies, however, have primarily dealt with self-employed workers as a relatively monolithic social class with shared interests as entrepreneurs and (potential) employers. But, with its recent rise, self-employment has developed into a heterogeneous employment type, with a growing number of dependent and precarious self-employed. In this article, the political preferences of people in self-employment are compared to the preferences of employees on temporary contracts. In doing so, hypotheses are tested from both classic theories on class voting, as well as theories on job precariousness and labor market vulnerabilities. For this purpose, European Social Survey Round 4 (ESS-4) data on eight West European countries are analyzed. The findings suggest that particular segments of self-employment share the characteristics of other forms of ‘atypical’ work, not only with respect to labor market insecurities, but also regarding the political orientations associated with such insecurities.


2016 ◽  
Vol 38 (5) ◽  
pp. 577-592 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joris Boonen

This study aims to contribute new insights into the way ‘political labour’ is divided in the household. I use data from a large-scale panel study, the Parent–Child Socialization Study 2012–2013, conducted among adolescents and both their parents in Belgium, to analyse the different ways in which family members engage in politics and influence each other’s political preferences. First, I analyse differences in political engagement between fathers, mothers and adolescents. Second, I present a full triadic structural equation model to measure the political influence that fathers, mothers and adolescent children exert on one another. The findings suggest that fathers are (still) more engaged in politics, but when it comes to preferences for political parties, both parents influence their partners and their adolescent children in equal measure.


2015 ◽  
pp. 62-85 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Zhuravleva

This paper surveys the literature on public-private sector wage differentials for Russian labor market. We give an overview of the main results and problems of the existing research. The authors unanimously confirm that in Russia private sector workers receive higher wages relative to their public sector counterparts. According to different estimates the "premium" varies between 7 and 40%. A correct evaluation of this "premium" is subject to debate and is a particular case of a more general econometric problem of wage differentials estimation. The main difficulties are related to data limitations, self-selection and omitted variables. Reasons for the existence of a stable private sector "premium" in Russia are not fully investigated.


2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Miguel Cueva Zavala

This research has a singular and notable importance, because if something should concern a Higher Education Institution, it is knowing what is the destiny within society of the human resource trained in its classrooms, that product that the institution delivers to the community who are its graduates and professionals. For the Institutions of Higher Education it is satisfactory on the part of employers, that the training received in the Institution of Higher Education is indicated, that the majority of graduates and professionals are incorporated into the occupational market; that is to say; some exercise their profession and others do it in occupations that do not correspond to their profession, which is justified, being aware that one of the great problems of the contemporary world is undoubtedly the lack of demand for human resources for stable work, which according to Authorized and reliable studies of every 10 people who join the economically active population, only 3 have real possibilities of fully joining the labor market, either in the private or public sector.


Author(s):  
Mark I. Vail

This chapter situates the book in theoretical and empirical contexts. It provides a brief overview of competing theoretical approaches to explaining trajectories of economic reform in continental Europe in the era of austerity and transnational neoliberalism since the early 1990s. Since standard analyses of “neoliberal” reform fail to capture these dynamics of economic reform in continental Europe, as do conventional institutionalist and interest-based accounts, it argues for an approach that emphasizes the political power of ideas and highlights the influence of national liberal traditions—French “statist liberalism,” German “corporate liberalism,” and Italian “clientelist liberalism.” It provides a brief overview of the remainder of the book, which uses a study of national liberal traditions to explain trajectories of reform in fiscal, labor-market, and financial policies in France, Germany, and Italy, three countries that have rejected neoliberal approaches to reform in a neoliberal age.


Author(s):  
Christie Hartley

In modern liberal democracies, the gendered division of labor is partially the result of men and women making different choices about work and family life, even if such choices stem from social norms about gender. The choices that women make relative to men’s disadvantage them in various ways: such choices lead them to earn less, enjoy less power and prestige in the labor market, be less able to participate in the political sphere on an equal basis, make them to some degree financially dependent on others, and leave them at a bargaining disadvantage and vulnerable in certain personal relationships. This chapter considers if and when the state should intervene to address women’s disadvantage and inequalities that are the result of gender specialization. It is argued that political liberals can and sometimes must intervene in the gendered division of labor when persons’ interests as free and equal citizens are frustrated.


Author(s):  
Gal Ariely

This chapter provides a broad overview of the political culture in Israel. It begins by discussing whether a single Israeli political culture can indeed be identified. It then surveys the principal factors that shape political culture and the key changes from the early days of nation-building attempts to Israel’s current, more multicultural character. Making use of a cultural-value map, the chapter then addresses the question of whether Israel’s political culture is indeed “Western” and compares the principal Israeli political orientations with those of other societies. Finally, it analyzes aspects of system support and democratic norms via the use of national and cross-national survey data. The analysis presented concludes that Israeli political culture is dominated by countervailing forces that create a combination of assertive and allegiant forms of citizenship.


2021 ◽  
pp. 205789112199169
Author(s):  
Kana Inata

Constitutional monarchies have proved to be resilient, and some have made substantive political interventions even though their positions are mostly hereditary, without granted constitutional channels to do so. This article examines how constitutional monarchs can influence political affairs and what impact royal intervention can have on politics. I argue that constitutional monarchs affect politics indirectly by influencing the preferences of the public who have de jure power to influence political leaders. The analyses herein show that constitutional monarchs do not indiscriminately intervene in politics, but their decisions to intervene reflect the public’s preferences. First, constitutional monarchs with little public approval become self-restraining and do not attempt to assert their political preferences. Second, they are more likely to intervene in politics when the public is less satisfied about the incumbent government. These findings are illustrated with historical narratives regarding the political involvement of King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand in the 2000s.


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