Hostname: page-component-5c6d5d7d68-7tdvq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-08-14T07:18:57.647Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Politics of Part-Time Work: Gender, Employment Status, and Preferences for Redistribution

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 December 2020

David S. Pedulla  and
Michael J. Donnelly
David S. Pedulla
Affiliation:
Harvard University
Michael J. Donnelly
Affiliation:
University of Toronto
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The social and economic forces that shape attitudes toward the welfare state are of central concern to social scientists. Scholarship in this area has paid limited attention to how working part-time, the employment status of nearly 20% of the U.S. workforce, affects redistribution preferences. In this article, we theoretically develop and empirically test an argument about the ways that part-time work, and its relationship to gender, shape redistribution preferences. We articulate two gender-differentiated pathways—one material and one about threats to social status—through which part-time work and gender may jointly shape individuals’ preferences for redistribution. We test our argument using cross-sectional and panel data from the General Social Survey in the United States. We find that the positive relationship between part-time employment, compared to full-time employment, and redistribution preferences is stronger for men than for women. Indeed, we do not detect a relationship between part-time work and redistribution preferences among women. Our results provide support for a gendered relationship between part-time employment and redistribution preferences and demonstrate that both material and status-based mechanisms shape this association.

Keywords

part-time employmentgenderworkredistributionpreferences
Type
Research Article
Information
Politics & Gender , Volume 18 , Issue 2 , June 2022 , pp. 321 - 358
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Women, Gender, and Politics Research Section of the American Political Science Association

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

Funding for this study was provided by the Department of Sociology at Stanford University. The authors contributed equally to this work, and their names are listed in reverse alphabetical order. The authors thank Charlotte Cavaille, Zoe Lefkofridi, Alex Murphy, Jacob Avery, and Mike Bader for constructive comments and feedback. They also thank Anna Boch for research assistance. An earlier version of this manuscript was presented at the University of Toronto Political Behaviour Workshop and the Annual Meetings of the Population Association of America and the American Sociological Association.

References

REFERENCES

Alesina, Alberto, and Ferrara, Eliana La. 2005. “Preferences for Redistribution in the Land of Opportunities.” Journal of Public Economics 89 (5–6): 897–931.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Alesina, Alberto, and Glaeser, Edward L.. 2004. Fighting Poverty in the US and Europe: A World of Difference. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Andersen, Kristi. 1999. “The Gender Gap and Experiences with the Welfare State.” PS: Political Science and Politics 32 (1): 17–19.Google Scholar
Arceneaux, Kevin. 2003. “The Conditional Impact of Blame Attribution on the Relationship between Economic Adversity and Turnout.” Political Research Quarterly 56 (1): 67–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blackwell, Matthew, Iacus, Stefano, King, Gary, and Porro, Giuseppe. 2009. “cem: Coarsened Exact Matching in Stata.” Stata Journal 9 (4): 524–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blau, Francine D., and Kahn, Lawrence M.. 2016. The Gender Wage Gap: Extent, Trends, and Explanations. Working Paper 21913, National Bureau of Economic Research. https://www.nber.org/papers/w21913 (accessed October 2, 2020).Google Scholar
Bobo, Lawrence, and Kluegel, James R.. 1993. “Opposition to Race-Targeting: Self-Interest, Stratification Ideology, or Racial Attitudes?” American Sociological Review 58 (4): 443–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Box-Steffensmeier, Janet M., Boef, Suzanna De, and Lin, Tse-min. 2017. “The Dynamics of the Partisan Gender Gap.” American Political Science Review 98 (3): 515–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brody, Richard A., and Sniderman, Paul M.. 1977. “From Life Space to Polling Place: The Relevance of Personal Concerns for Voting Behavior.” British Journal of Political Science 7 (3): 337–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brooks, Clem, and Manza, Jeff. 2013. “A Broken Public? Americans’ Responses to the Great Recession.” American Sociological Review 78 (5): 727–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brown-Iannuzzi, Jazmin L., Lundberg, Kristjen B., Kay, Aaron C., and Keith Payne, B.. 2015. “Subjective Status Shapes Political Preferences.” Psychological Science 26 (1): 15–26.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Burden, Barry C., and Wichowsky, Amber. 2014. “Economic Discontent as a Mobilizer: Unemployment and Voter Turnout.” Journal of Politics 76 (4): 887–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carroll, Susan J. 1988. “Women's Autonomy and the Gender Gap: 1980 and 1982.” In The Politics of the Gender Gap: The Social Construction of Political Influence, ed. Mueller, Carol M. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications, 236–57.Google Scholar
Cha, Youngjoo. 2010. “Reinforcing Separate Spheres: The Effect of Spousal Overwork on Men's and Women's Employment in Dual-Earner Households.” American Sociological Review 75 (2): 303–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chaney, Carole Kennedy, Alvarez, R. Michael, and Nagler, Jon. 1998. “Explaining the Gender Gap in U.S. Presidential Elections, 1980–1992.” Political Research Quarterly 51 (2): 311–39.Google Scholar
Conover, Pamela Johnston. 1988. “Feminists and the Gender Gap.” Journal of Politics 50 (4): 985–1010.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cook, Fay Lomax, and Barrett, Edith J.. 1992. Support for the American Welfare State: The Views of Congress and the Public. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Donnelly, Michael J. 2020. “Material Interests, Identity, and Linked Fate in Three Countries.” British Journal of Political Science. Published online March 12. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0007123419000589.Google Scholar
Dunn, Megan. 2018. “Who Chooses Part-Time Work and Why?” Monthly Labor Review 2018 (3): 1–25.Google Scholar
Eagly, Alice H., and Steffen, Valerie J.. 1986. “Gender Stereotypes, Occupational Roles, and Beliefs about Part-Time Employees.” Psychology of Women Quarterly 10 (3): 252–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Edlund, Jonas. 1999. “Trust in Government and Welfare Regimes: Attitudes to Redistribution and Financial Cheating in the USA and Norway.” European Journal of Political Research 35: 341–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Egan, Patrick J. 2018. “Identity as Dependent Variable: How American Shift Their Identities to Better Align with Their Politics.” Working paper. https://rubenson.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/egan-tpbw18.pdf (accessed October 2, 2020).Google Scholar
England, Paula, Farkas, George, Kilbourne, Barbara Stanek, and Duo, Thomas. 1988. “Explaining Occupational Sex Segregation and Wages: Findings from a Model with Fixed Effects.” American Sociological Review 53 (4): 544–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Erie, Steven P., and Rein, Martin. 1988. “Women and the Welfare State.” In The Politics of the Gender Gap: The Social Construction of Political Influence, ed. Mueller, Carol M. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications, 173–91.Google Scholar
Ferber, Marianne A., and Waldfogel, Jane. 1998. “The Long-Term Consequences of Nontraditional Employment.” Monthly Labor Review 121 (5): 3–12.Google Scholar
Gelepithis, Margarita, and Jeannet, Anne-Marie. 2017. “The Political Consequences of Outsider Labour Market Status in the Unites States: A Micro-Level Study.” Social Policy& Administration 52 (5): 1019–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gidron, Noam, and Hall, Peter A.. 2017. “The Politics of Social Status: Economic and Cultural Roots of the Populist Right.” Special issue, British Journal of Sociology 68: S57–84.Google ScholarPubMed
Gilens, Martin. 1995. “Racial Attitudes and Opposition to Welfare.” Journal of Politics 57 (4): 994–1014.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gilens, Martin. 2000. Why Americans Hate Welfare: Race, Media, and the Politics of Antipoverty Policy. Chicago: Chicago University Press.Google Scholar
Gilligan, Carol. 1982. In a Different Voice: Psychological Theory and Women's Development. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Greenlee, Jill S. 2014. The Political Consequences of Motherhood. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hasenfeld, Yeheskel, and Rafferty, Jane A.. 1989. “The Determinants of Public Attitudes toward the Welfare State.” Social Forces 67 (4): 1027–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Häusermann, Silja, Kurer, Thomas, and Schwander, Hanna. 2015. “High-Skilled Outsiders? Labor Market Vulnerability, Education and Welfare State Preferences.” Socio-Economic Review 13 (2): 235–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hirsch, Barry. 2005. “Why Do Part-Time Workers Earn Less? The Role of Worker and Job Skills.” Industrial & Labor Relations Review 58 (4): 525–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Howell, Susan E., and Day, Christine L.. 2000. “Complexities of the Gender Gap.” Journal of Politics 62 (3): 858–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Iacus, Stefano M., King, Gary, and Porro, Giuseppe. 2012. “Causal Inference without Balance Checking: Coarsened Exact Matching.” Political Analysis 20 (1): 1–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Imai, Kosuke, Keele, Like, Tingley, Dustin, and Tamamoto, Teppei. 2011. “Unpacking the Black Box of Causality: Learning about Causal Mechanisms from Experimental and Observational Studies.” American Political Science Review 105 (4): 765–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Incantalupo, Matthew B. 2017. “The Effects of Unemployment on Voter Turnout in U.S. National Elections.” Working paper. https://scholar.princeton.edu/sites/default/files/mincanta/files/incantalupo_turnout_0.pdf (accessed October 6, 2020).Google Scholar
Iverson, Torben, and Soskice, David. 2001. “An Asset Theory of Political Preferences.” American Political Science Review 95 (4): 875—910.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kalleberg, Arne L., Reskin, Barbara F., and Hudson, Ken. 2000. “Bad Jobs in America: Standard and Nonstandard Employment Relations and Job Quality in the United States.” American Sociological Review 65 (2): 256–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kelley, Harold H., and Michela, John L.. 1980. “Attribution Theory and Research.” Annual Review of Psychology 31: 457–501.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Killewald, Alexandra. 2016. “Money, Work, and Marital Stability: Assessing Change in the Gendered Determinants of Divorce.” American Sociological Review 81 (4): 696–719.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kluegel, James R., and Smith, Eliot R.. 1986. Beliefs about Inequality: Americans’ Views of What Is and What Ought to Be. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Books.Google Scholar
Knutsen, Oddbjørn. 2005. “The Impact of Sector Employment on Party Choice: A Comparative Study of Eight West European Countries.” European Journal of Political Research 44: 593–621.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leicht, Kevin T. 2008. “Broken Down by Race and Gender? Sociological Explanations of New Sources of Earnings Inequality.” Annual Review of Sociology 34: 237–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mandel, Hadas, and Semyonov, Moshe. 2006. “A Welfare State Paradox: State Interventions and Women's Employment Opportunities in 22 Countries.” American Journal of Sociology 111 (6): 1910–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Margalit, Yotam M. 2013. “Explaining Social Policy Preferences: Evidence from the Great Recession.” American Political Science Review 107 (1): 80–103.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marx, Paul. 2014. “Labour Market Risks and Political Preferences: The Case of Temporary Employment.” European Journal of Political Research 53 (1): 136–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McCall, Leslie, and Manza, Jeff. 2012. “Class Differences in Social and Political Attitudes in America.” In Oxford Handbook of American Public Opinion and the Media, eds. Edwards, George C. III, Jacobs, Lawrence R. and Shapiro, Robert Y.. New York: Oxford University Press, 552–70.Google Scholar
Mills, C. Wright. 1959. The Sociological Imagination. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Mutz, Diana C. 2018. “Status Threat, not Economic Hardship, Explains the 2016 Presidential Vote.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 115 (19): E4330–E4339.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Owens, Lindsay A., and Pedulla, David S.. 2014. “Material Welfare and Changing Political Preferences: The Case of Support for Redistributive Social Policies.” Social Forces 92 (3): 1087–1113.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Parker, Kim, and Stepler, Renee. 2017. “Americans See Men as the Financial Providers, Even as Women's Contributions Grow.” Pew Research Center, September 20. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/09/20/americans-see-men-as-the-financial-providers-even-as-womens-contributions-grow/ (accessed October 2, 2020).Google Scholar
Pedulla, David S. 2016. “Penalized or Protected? Gender and the Consequences of Nonstandard and Mismatched Employment Histories.” American Sociological Review 81 (2): 262–89.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rehm, Philipp. 2009. “Risks and Redistribution: An Individual Analysis.” Comparative Political Studies 42 (7): 855–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sayer, L. C. 2005. “Gender, Time and Inequality: Trends in Women's and Men's Paid Work, Unpaid Work and Free Time.” Social Forces 84 (1): 285–303.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schlesinger, Mark, and Heldman, Caroline. 2001. “Gender Gap or Gender Gaps? New Perspectives on Support for Government Action and Policies.” Journal of Politics 63 (1): 59–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schlozman, Kay Lehman, Burns, Nancy, and Verba, Sidney. 1999. “‘What Happened at Work Today?’: A Multistage Model of Gender, Employment, and Political Participation.” Journal of Politics 61 (1): 29–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sears, David O., Lau, Richard R., Tyler, Tom R., and Allen, Harris M. Jr. 1980. “Self-Interest vs. Symbolic Politics in Policy Attitudes and Presidential Voting.” American Political Science Review 74 (3): 670–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sharone, Ofer. 2013. Flawed System/Flawed Self: Job Searching and Unemployment Experiences. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shayo, Moses. 2009. “A Model of Social Identity with an Application to Political Economy: Nation, Class, and Redistribution.” American Political Science Review 103 (2): 147–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stout, Christopher T., Kretschmer, Kelsy, and Ruppanner, Leah. 2017. “Gender Linked Fate, Race/Ethnicity, and the Marriage Gap in American Politics.” Political Research Quarterly 70 (3): 509–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thébaud, Sarah. 2010. “Masculinity, Bargaining, and Breadwinning: Understanding Men's Housework in the Cultural Context of Paid Work.” Gender & Society 24 (3): 330–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. 2018a. “Usual Weekly Earnings of Wage and Salary Workers: Third Quarter 2018.” News release, October 16. https://www.bls.gov/news.release/archives/wkyeng_10162018.htm (accessed October 2, 2020).Google Scholar
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. 2018b. “Labor Force Statistics from the Current Population Survey.” https://data.bls.gov/PDQWeb/ln/ (accessed November 9, 2020).Google Scholar
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. 2020. “Economic News Release, Table B-2.” https://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t18.htm (accessed February 4, 2020).Google Scholar
U.S. Census Bureau. 2019a. “Historical Families Tables: FM-1, Families by Presence of Own Children under 18: 1950 to Present.” Current Population Survey, November. https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/families/families.html (accessed February 3, 2020).Google Scholar
U.S. Census Bureau. 2019b. “Person Income in 2018.” Current Population Survey. https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/income-poverty/cps-pinc/pinc-01.2018.html (accessed August 26, 2020).Google Scholar
U.S. Department of Labor. 2019. Comparison of State Unemployment Laws. Washington, DC: Employment and Training Administration. https://oui.doleta.gov/unemploy/comparison/2010-2019/comparison2019.asp (accessed October 7, 2020).Google Scholar
Weaver, Kevin S., and Vescio, Theresa K.. 2015. “The Justification of Social Inequality in Response to Masculinity Threats.” Sex Roles 72 (11–12): 521–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Willer, Robb, Rogalin, Christabel L., Conlon, Bridget, and Wojnowicz, Michael T.. 2013. “Overdoing Gender: A Test of the Masculine Overcompensation Thesis.” American Journal of Sociology 118 (4): 980–1022.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Pedulla and Donnelly supplementary material

Pedulla and Donnelly supplementary material

Download Pedulla and Donnelly supplementary material(File)
File 37.1 KB