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Working Class Inclusion

Working Class Inclusion

Working Class Inclusion

Evaluations of Democratic Institutions in Latin America
Tiffany D. Barnes, University of Kentucky
Yann P. Kerevel, Louisiana State University
Gregory W. Saxton, Texas Tech University
February 2025
Available
Paperback
9781009349802

    Latin American legislators, like legislators worldwide, are drawn from a narrow set of elites who are largely out of touch with average citizens. Despite comprising the vast majority of the labor force, working-class people represent a small slice of the legislature. Working Class Inclusion examines how the near exclusion of working-class citizens from legislatures affects citizens' evaluations of government. Combining surveys from across Latin America with novel data on legislators' class backgrounds and experiments from Argentina and Mexico, the book demonstrates voters want more workers in office, and when combined with policy representation, the presence of working-class legislators improves citizens' evaluations of government. Absent policy representation, however, workers are met with distrust and backlash. Chapters show citizens have many opportunities to learn about the presence, or absence, of workers; and the relationship between working-class representation and evaluations of government is strongest among citizens who are aware of legislators' class status.

    • Combines original survey experiments from Argentina and Mexico with national surveys from 18 Latin American countries
    • Uses a mixed-methods research design drawing on both observational and experimental data
    • Contributes to the theoretical and empirical literature exploring representation, inclusion, and democracy in Latin America

    Reviews & endorsements

    ‘A major landmark for the study of labour politics.’ Christopher Chambers-Ju, Journal of Latin American Studies

    See more reviews

    Product details

    November 2023
    Adobe eBook Reader
    9781009349789
    0 pages
    This ISBN is for an eBook version which is distributed on our behalf by a third party.

    Table of Contents

    • 1. Introduction
    • 2. A Theory of Working-Class Inclusion
    • 3. Do Voters Want to Be Represented by Workers?
    • 4. Will Any Worker Do? The Role of Policy in Linking Workers' Presence to Evaluations of Representatives
    • 5. Will Any Worker Do? Linking Parties to Workers in Argentina and Mexico
    • 6. How Do Voters Know Workers Are in Office? Political Incentives, Journalistic Dissemination, and People's Ability to Intuit Class
    • 7. How Do Voters Know Workers Are in Office? Interest in Politics, News Consumption, and Evaluations of Institutions
    • 8. Conclusion.
      Authors
    • Tiffany D. Barnes , University of Kentucky

      Tiffany D. Barnes is a Professor of Political Science at University of Kentucky. Her first book, Gendering Legislative Behavior: Institutional Constraints and Collaboration (2016), won the Alan Rosenthal Prize from the Legislative Studies Section of the American Political Science Association in 2017.

    • Yann P. Kerevel , Louisiana State University

      Yann P. Kerevel is Associate Professor of Political Science at Louisiana State University. He has published numerous articles in Journal of Politics, Comparative Political Studies, Legislative Studies Quarterly, Political Research Quarterly, Electoral Studies, Latin American Politics & Society, among others.

    • Gregory W. Saxton , Texas Tech University

      Gregory W. Saxton is a Senior Lecturer at Texas Tech University. His research appears in Governance, Political Research Quarterly, Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Policy, Latin American Politics and Society, and Politics, Groups, and Identities, among others.