Political participation and low-wage work in a liberal market economy

Despite the persistent class gap in political participation, we know surprisingly little about how working in low-wage labor markets might affect someone’s political outlook and behavior. A worker’s relationship with low-paying employers is especially significant in liberal market economies such as the United States, where there are few unions or sectoral agreements to intervene in the employment relationship. To better understand how working in these labor markets influences political engagement, I use a mixed-method approach that draws on qualitative insights to build theory, then quantitative methods to test the implications of that theory. I study workers in an industry where wages are especially low: Fast food. Through in-depth interviews with more than 60 fast-food workers across the United States, I find that a worker’s sense of agency and treatment in these low-wage markets affects the way they believe themselves to be valued in society more generally. In particular, low-wage workers draw on the extent of the employment policies and programs available to them as a signal of the responsiveness of political elites. In turn, this perception of political responsiveness influences political trust and participation. I provide further evidence for this theory through observational and experimental evidence in an original survey of more than 1,200 fast-food workers. Importantly, this relationship varies depending on the strength of local employment policies and programs in the United States’ federated system of government, making local context important for understanding how low-wage labor influences political outcomes. The study advances our understanding of the relationship between work and political behavior.