The Impact of Labor Force Attachment on Political Participation

Abstract

Labor force attachment is currently seen as a major factor in increasing political participation of women. This article critically examines the data and methods of studies that have postulated a causal connection between lábor force attachment and political participation and argues that at present there is no conclusive evidence of such a relationship. It then proposes three sub-hypotheses: (1) Lack of labor force attachment will have a negative effect on men's political participation; (2) housewives with working class husbands will have a lower political participation than female blue-collar workers; and (3) housewives whose husbands are of the professional and managerial class will have the same low level of political participation as housewives whose husbands belong to the working class. All three sub-hypotheses are then tested with some recent Canadian data and shown to be false. It is concluded that we must identify factors other than labor force attachment to explain the level of political participation.