Frozen or malleable? Political ideology in the face of job loss and unemployment

Wiertz, Dingeman and Rodon, Toni (2021) Frozen or malleable? Political ideology in the face of job loss and unemployment. Socio-Economic Review, 19 (1). 307 - 331. ISSN 1475-1461

Text (Wiertz Rodon - SER 2019 - Political Ideology in the Face of Job Loss and Unemployment) - Accepted Version Download (1MB)

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Abstract

To what degree do people adjust their political ideology in response to job loss? To answer this question, we draw on Dutch panel data over the period 2007-2016, paying special attention to the potential moderating role of various personal circumstances. We find that, on average, job loss triggers a leftward ideological response. Although small in size, this shock effect persists when people remain unemployed or find new employment, yet in the longer run it wears off. Furthermore, we find that job loss prompts a bigger shift to the left when people are simultaneously confronted with a major drop in household income, when they have fewer financial resources to serve as a buffer, and when they are more pessimistic about the economy. While we also observe many people who revise their ideology to the right during our study window, these rightward shifts do not seem driven by job loss experiences.

Item Type:	Article
Official URL:	https://academic.oup.com/ser
Additional Information:	© 2019 The Authors
Divisions:	Government
Subjects:	J Political Science > JC Political theory H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor
JEL classification:	I - Health, Education, and Welfare > I3 - Welfare and Poverty > I38 - Government Policy; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J6 - Mobility, Unemployment, and Vacancies > J64 - Unemployment: Models, Duration, Incidence, and Job Search
Date Deposited:	09 Mar 2022 10:15
Last Modified:	17 Apr 2024 20:06
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/114285

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