Affiliation:
1. Institute for New Economic Thinking – Department of Social Policy and Intervention University of Oxford Oxford UK
2. Leverhulme Centre for Demographic Science – Department of Sociology Oxford UK
3. Nuffield College Oxford UK
Abstract
AbstractPrevious studies examine how unemployment affects socio‐political behaviour, but this literature has scarcely focused on the role of the life‐course. Integrating the frameworks of unemployment scarring and political socialisation, we posit that unemployment experiences, or scars, undermine electoral participation, and that this is exacerbated at younger ages. We test these hypotheses relying on the British Household Panel Survey and Understanding Society datasets (1991–2020), employing panel data analysis approaches as Propensity Score Matching, Individual Fixed Effects, and Individual Fixed Effects with Individual Slopes. Results suggest that unemployment experiences depress electoral participation in the UK, with effect sizes around −5% of a Standard Deviation in turnout. However, this effect varies powerfully by age: the impact of unemployment on electoral participation is stronger at younger ages (−21% SD at age 20), and weaker to not significant after age 35. This is robust across the three main approaches and several robustness checks. Further analyses show that the first unemployment spell matters the most for electoral participation, and that for individuals under 35, there is a scar effect lasting up to 5 years after the first unemployment spell. The life‐course emerges as central to better understand the relationship between labour market hardships and socio‐political behaviour.
Funder
Leverhulme Trust
Horizon 2020 Framework Programme
Subject
Sociology and Political Science
Cited by
1 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献
1. Turnout;The Palgrave Handbook of Global Social Change;2023