"Does workplace experience enhance political participation? A critical test of a venerable hypothesis"

by Adman, Per (2008)

Abstract

Several schools of thought claim that citizens can develop their democratic skills at the workplace. Here I focus on the hypothesis put forward by Carole Pateman and by Sidney Verba and colleagues that state that by practicing civic skills and democratic decision-making at the workplace, citizens become more active in politics. I test the hypothesis with a nationally representative panel survey of the Swedish population. My findings contradict previous empirical research as no impact on political participation was discovered. I argue that the effects may have been overestimated in prior studies because the tests were based on cross-sectional data: insufficient care was taken with a number of significant methodological problems. The study points to the importance of using panel models when investigating the causes of political participation.

Keywords

Pateman, Feminism, Participation, Democracy, Political Theory

Themes

Democracy and Work

Links to Reference

• https://idp.springer.com/authorize/casa?redirect_uri=https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s11109-007-9040-y.pdf&casa_token=dXT1OofmJ1oAAAAA:2yC4XF0DmzsJAWPRLwiEPSMgbnBXArZQ6AXmZNFn-gOzSV2hoIwQoEdrvzKw1GuU2VlImvfkJS6qHTJK

Citation

Share

How to contribute.