TY - JOUR

T1 - Left by the left? The politics of poverty alleviation

AU - Lierse, Hanna

AU - Seelkopf, Laura

N1 - Publisher Copyright: ©

PY - 2022/11/7

Y1 - 2022/11/7

N2 - Research shows that low-income groups are increasingly left behind economically and excluded from the policy-making process of advanced democratic societies. This suggests that governments do not sufficiently address the needs of the poor. In this article, we explore to what extent labour power positively influences redistribution and policies for society overall and for the poor in specific. Following standard political economy arguments, a powerful working class leads to more egalitarian forms of capitalism as they are the main beneficiaries from redistribution. But do social-democratic parties and trade unions also represent the poorest in society, those who participate less in political decision-making and whose jobs are often not covered by collective bargaining agreements? Using comparative time-series data for 23 OECD countries since the 1980s, the findings suggest a positive role of the Left, at least for trade unions on poverty reduction, but less for specific policies benefiting the poor.

AB - Research shows that low-income groups are increasingly left behind economically and excluded from the policy-making process of advanced democratic societies. This suggests that governments do not sufficiently address the needs of the poor. In this article, we explore to what extent labour power positively influences redistribution and policies for society overall and for the poor in specific. Following standard political economy arguments, a powerful working class leads to more egalitarian forms of capitalism as they are the main beneficiaries from redistribution. But do social-democratic parties and trade unions also represent the poorest in society, those who participate less in political decision-making and whose jobs are often not covered by collective bargaining agreements? Using comparative time-series data for 23 OECD countries since the 1980s, the findings suggest a positive role of the Left, at least for trade unions on poverty reduction, but less for specific policies benefiting the poor.

KW - inequality

KW - labour politics

KW - partisanship

KW - Poverty

KW - redistribution

KW - Sustainability sciences, Management & Economics

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85144411734&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/803498b7-ac3f-3a91-8186-2a541c6a982d/

U2 - 10.1017/ics.2022.15

DO - 10.1017/ics.2022.15

M3 - Journal articles

AN - SCOPUS:85144411734

VL - 38

SP - 223

EP - 240

JO - Journal of International and Comparative Social Policy

JF - Journal of International and Comparative Social Policy

SN - 2169-9763

IS - 3

ER -