Intersectional Approaches to Understanding Working-Class Candidates and Politicians
Abstract
The working-class population in the United States makes up roughly 60%¹ of the labor force today. According to a 2021 report² by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, women, especially women of color, and workers in the service occupation face higher rates of poverty compared to their white and more educated counterparts. Yet, when we look at descriptive representation, working-class politicians are vastly underrepresented (Carnes, 2013). I argue the literature on political elites and candidates should incorporate more intersectional ways to examine such underrepresentation. In this prospectus, I put forth a plan to answer the following three questions: Does working-class candidate identity—as it intersects with race, ethnicity, and gender—increase the likelihood of winning primary and general elections? Moreover, what barriers do working-class candidates encounter while running for office and can any of those barriers be alleviated by labor candidate training? Lastly, what attitudes do American respondents have about working-class candidates, and would they vote for them if given the opportunity?
I implement a mixed-methods approach to answer these questions by leveraging observational candidate data, interviews with working-class candidates and politicians, survey experiments, and additional survey data. To answer these questions, I develop a theory that draws from multiple disciplines with a particular focus on class and intersectionality. I explore the ways class intersects with race/ethnicity and gender to further our understanding of political candidates and politicians and the way they present themselves, with a particular emphasis on the working-class and occupational backgrounds they present online and as they relate to political campaigns.
Read more about my dissertation here.
¹Read more about the working-class in the U.S. here.
² Read the BLS report here for more details.
About My Dissertation
My dissertation applies a mixed-methods approach to further understand the underrepresentation of working-class individuals both in running and serving in elected office. My research focuses on questions of class inequality and the interconnections between multiple identities and life experiences of candidates. I explore the ways class intersects with race/ethnicity and gender to further our knowledge of political candidates and politicians and the way they present themselves, with a particular emphasis on the working-class and occupational backgrounds they present online and as they relate to political campaigns. Additionally, my work places an emphasis on theories of intersectionality, theory of the flesh, critical race theory, descriptive representation, and political ambition. Together, I find that state legislative Democratic candidates are more likely to win general elections when they have a blue or pink-collar occupational background.
Moreover, in the public policy realm I consider both how potential voters feel about working-class candidates and the success rates of labor candidate training programs. Studying voter attitudes help scholars and policymakers alike in gaining a greater understanding of the types of candidates’ voters would potentially like to see, support, and vote for. Furthermore, learning more about the campaign process and barriers working-class candidates face has the potential to change who runs for political office, especially women and racial/ethnic minorities who are vastly underrepresented at all levels of government.