A Switch or a Process? Disentangling the Effects of Union Membership on Political Attitudes in Switzerland and the UK

Abstract

The paper examines the effects of union membership on individual political attitudes using panel data for Swiss and British workers. Considering union membership as an on/off switch (member vs. non-member), as it is often done, it is only possible to distinguish between a selection effect (unions attract like-minded individuals) and a molding effect (the experience of membership has a transformational impact on the individual). Exploiting the longitudinal structure of the data reveals that union membership is best characterized not as a switch, but as a dynamic process involving anticipation effects (which start well before becoming affiliated) and maturation effects (which become noticeable only after a certain duration of membership and may not dissipate after leaving the union). Empirically, the selection effect appears the most important in the two countries we focus on, while the molding effect is less pronounced. Anticipation and maturation effects are also non-negligible and hitherto unexplored.

How do union membership, union density and institutionalization affect perceptions of conflict between management and workers?

“…For this reason, and given the cross-sectional structure of the data explored, it should be emphasized that causal inference should be done with caution. Consequentially, further research may aim at disentangling causal processes, for example, by analysing individual-level panel-data (see, for example, Hadziabdic and Baccaro, 2020).…”

Worker Voice and Political Participation in Civil Society

“…Inspired by Bryson et al (2013), 1 shows the straightforward causal relationship envisioned by the theories noted in sections 1.1 and 1.2 in which worker voice affects an individual's level of political and civic participation. Hadziabdic and Baccaro (2020) characterize this as a "molding" effect in which voice shapes political and civic attitudes. If the underlying dynamic between voice and political participation really is a causal, molding phenomenon, then organizational or public policy efforts to increase worker voice would cause greater levels of political and civic engagement, too.…”

“…But this cannot rule out other transmissions mechanisms, nor can it disprove a non-causal linkage resulting from self-selection (recall panel E in figure 1). As Hadziabdic and Baccaro (2020) have emphasized, the literature generally relies on control variables to rule out noncausal explanations, but at best this is an imperfect solution. Using panel data to explicitly model self-selection into unions, Stegmueller and Becher (2019) did indeed find that selection is an important explanation for the union vote premium, but also concluded that a significant causal effect remains after accounting for selection.…”

Unions, Worker Participation, and Worker Well-being

“…As reviewed by Hadziabdic and Baccaro (2020), a long line of research does show that unionized workers across countries are typically more active politically. In their own research these authors uniquely exploit longitudinal data to divide the association between unionization and political participation into a selection effect (a voice institution attracts those already more active politically) and a "molding" or "maturation" effect in which years with the union increases the level of activity.…”