Advertisement

Social investment by popular demand? The electoral politics of employment-centered family policy

  • Moira NelsonEmail author
  • Nathalie Giger
Original Article
First Online:
  • 107 Downloads

Abstract

Employment-centered family policies enable parents to combine work and family, thereby improving work–life balance for individuals and families as well as increasing GDP. For these reasons, these policies constitute a central component of the social investment approach, a model for how to design social policies for contemporary societies. This study seeks to understand whether voters enable the expansion of these policies and therein promote social investment. The literature suggests that voters may reward governments that expand such policies for reducing work–life tensions at a relatively low cost. Yet support may wane if voters oppose mothers’ employment or face few opportunities to take up such policies (e.g., due to barriers to labor market entry). Left parties are found to gain from expanding day care but lose votes for expanding leave schemes, a finding which partially explains the vote losses for leave expansion before the activation turn. Generous day care and leave schemes in the social democratic regime entail an electoral logic, whereby governments escape vote losses for the expansion of leave schemes and gain from expanding day care. The remaining results do not reach statistical significance and should be interpreted with care.

Keywords

Elections Political parties Welfare states Family Public policy 

JEL Classification

D72 H53 
This is a preview of subscription content, log in to check access.

References

  1. Amable, B. 2011. Morals and Politics in the Ideology of Neo-liberalism. Socio-Economic Review 9 (1): 3–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  2. Anderson, C.J. 2000. Economic Voting and Political Context: A Comparative Perspective. Electoral Studies 19: 151–170.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  3. Ansolabehere, S., J. Rodden, and J.M. Snyder. 2008. The Strength of Issues: Using Multiple Measures to Gauge Preference Stability, Ideological Constraint, and Issue Voting. American Political Science Review 102 (2): 215–232.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  4. Armingeon, Klaus, Sarah Engler, Panajotis Potolidis, Marlene Gerber, and Philipp Leimgruber. 2011. Comparative Political Data Set, 1960–2008. Berne: Institute of Political Science, University of Berne.Google Scholar
  5. Bonoli, Giuliano. 2013. The Origins of Active Social Policy: Labour Market and Childcare Policies in a Comparative Perspective. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  6. Bonoli, Giuliano, and Frank Reber. 2010. The Political Economy of Childcare in OECD Countries: Explaining Cross-National Variation in Spending and Coverage Rates. European Journal of Political Research 49 (1): 97–118.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  7. Borchorst, Anette (ed.). 1994. Welfare State Regimes, Women’s Interests and the EC. SAGE: In Gendering Welfare States.Google Scholar
  8. Brooks, C., and J. Manza. 2006. Social Policy Responsiveness in Developed Democracies. American Sociological Review 71 (3): 474–494.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  9. Brennan, Deborah. 2007. Babies, Budgets, and Birthrates: Work/Family Policy in Australia 1996–2006. Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State and Society 14 (1): 31–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  10. Burger, Kaspar. 2010. How Does Early Childhood Care and Education Affect Cognitive Development? An International Review of the Effects of Early Interventions for Children from Different Social Backgrounds. Early Childhood Research Quarterly 25 (2): 140–165.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  11. Castles, Francis G., and Herbert Obinger. 2008. Worlds, Families, Regimes: Country Clusters in European and OECD Area Public Policy. West European Politics 31 (1–2): 321–344.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  12. Chung, Heejung and Meuleman, Bart. 2014. Support for government intervention in child care across European countries. In The transformation of care in European societies, ed. Margarita León, 104–133. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
  13. Connelly, Rachel. 1992. The Effect of Child Care Costs on Married Women’s Labor Force Participation. The Review of Economics and Statistics 74 (1): 83–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  14. Döring, Holger, and Philip Manow. 2012. Parliament and Government Composition Database (ParlGov): An Infrastructure for Empirical Information on Parties, Elections and Governments in Modern Democracies. Version 12/10–15 October 2012.Google Scholar
  15. Downs, Anthony. 1957. An Economic Theory of Democracy. New York: Harper.Google Scholar
  16. Drobnic, Sonja, and Ana M. Guillén. 2011. Work-Life Balance in Europe: The Role of Job Quality. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  17. Ellingsæter, Anne Lise. 2003. The Complexity of Family Policy Reform: The Case of Norway. European Societies 5 (4): 419–443.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  18. Ellingsaeter, A.L., R.H. Kitterød, and J. Lyngstad. 2017. Universalising Childcare, Changing Mothers’ Attitudes: Policy Feedback in Norway. Journal of Social Policy 46 (1): 149–173.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  19. Esping-Andersen, Gøsta. 1990. The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
  20. Esping-Andersen, Gøsta. 1999. Social Foundations of Post-Industrial Economies. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  21. Esping-Andersen, Gøsta. 2009. Incomplete Revolution: Adapting Welfare States to Women’s New Roles. Cambridge: Polity Press.Google Scholar
  22. Estevez-Abe, M. 2005. Gender Bias in Skills and Social Policies: The Varieties of Capitalism Perspective on Sex Segregation. Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State and Society 12 (2): 180–215.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  23. Ferragina, Emanuele, and Martin Seeleib-Kaiser. 2011. Thematic Review: Welfare Regime Debate: Past, Present, Futures? Policy and Politics 39 (4): 583–611.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  24. Ferrarini, Tommy. 2006. Families, States and Labour Markets: Institutions, Causes and Consequences of Family Policy in Post-War Welfare States. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  25. Ferrera, Maurizio. 1996. The ‘Southern Model’ of Welfare in Social Europe. Journal of European Social Policy 6 (1): 17–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  26. Fiorina, Morris. 1981. Retrospective Voting in American National Elections. New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
  27. Fleckenstein, Timo. 2010. Party Politics and Childcare: Comparing the Expansion of Service Provision in England and Germany. Social Policy and Administration 44 (7): 789–807.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  28. Fleckenstein, Timo. 2011. The Politics of Ideas in Welfare State Transformation: Christian Democracy and the Reform of Family Policy in Germany. Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State and Society 18 (4): 543–571.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  29. Fleckenstein, Timo, and Soohyun Christine Lee. 2012. The Politics of Postindustrial Social Policy: Family Policy Reforms in Britain, Germany, South Korea, and Sweden. Comparative Political Studies 44: 1622.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  30. Gauthier, Anne. 1996. The State and the Family: A Comparative Analysis of Family Policies in Industrialized Countries. Incorporated: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
  31. Gauthier, Anne. 2002. Family Policies in Industrialized Countries: Is There Convergence? Population (English Edition) 57 (3): 447–474.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  32. Giger, Nathalie, and Moira Nelson. 2011. The Electoral Consequences of Welfare State Retrenchment: Blame Avoidance or Credit Claiming in the Era of Permanent Austerity? European Journal of Political Research 50 (1): 1–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  33. Guo, Jing, and Neil Gilbert. 2014. Public Attitudes Toward Government Responsibility for Child Care: The Impact of Individual Characteristics and Welfare Regimes. Children and Youth Services Review 44: 82–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  34. Hakim, Catherine. 2000. Work-Lifestyle Choices in the 21st Century: Preference Theory—Preference Theory. Oxford: OUP Oxford.Google Scholar
  35. Hall, P., and D. Soskice. 2001. Varieties of Capitalism: The Institutional Foundations of Competitiveness. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  36. Hochschild, Arlie Russell. 1995. The Culture of Politics: Traditional, Postmodern, Cold-Modern, and Warm-Modern Ideals of Care. Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State and Society 2 (3): 331–346.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  37. Hook, J.L. 2015. Incorporating ‘Class’ into Work–Family Arrangements: Insights from and for Three Worlds. Journal of European Social Policy 25 (1): 14–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  38. Huber, Evelyne, Charles Ragin, and John D. Stephens. 1993. Social Democracy, Christian Democracy, Constitutional Structure, and the Welfare State. American Journal of Sociology 99 (3): 711–749.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  39. Huber, Evelyne, and John D. Stephens. 2000. Partisan Governance, Women’s Employment, and the Social Democratic Service State. American Sociological Review 65 (3): 323–342.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  40. Huber, Evelyne, and John D. Stephens. 2001. Development and Crisis of the Welfare State: Parties and Policies in Global Markets. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  41. Huo, J. 2009. Third Way Reforms: Social Democracy after the Golden Age. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  42. Inglehart, Ronald. 1977. The Silent Revolution: Changing Values and Political Styles Among Western Publics. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
  43. Inglehart, Ronald, and Pippa Norris. 2000. The Developmental Theory of the Gender Gap: Women’s and Men’s Voting Behavior in Global Perspective. International Political Science Review 21 (4): 441–463.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  44. Iversen, Torben, and Frances Rosenbluth. 2008. Work and Power: The Connection Between Female Labor Force Participation and Female Political Representation. Annual Review of Political Science 11 (1): 479–495.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  45. Jaumotte, Florence. 2003. Labour Force Participation of Women: Empirical Evidence on The Role of Policy and Other Determinants in OECD Countries. OECD Economic Studies 2003 (2): 51–108.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  46. Jost, John T., Christopher M. Federico, and Jaime L. Napier. 2009. Political Ideology: Its Structure, Functions, and Elective Affinities. Annual Review of Psychology 60 (1): 307–337.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  47. Kamerman, Sheila B., and Peter Moss. 2009. The Politics of Parental Leave Policies: Children, Parenting, Gender and the Labour Market. Bristol: The Policy Press.Google Scholar
  48. Kangas, Olli E. 1997. Self-Interest and the Common Good: The Impact of Norms, Selfishness and Context in Social Policy Opinions. The Journal of Socio-Economics 26 (5): 475–494.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  49. Key, Valdimer Orlando. 1966. The Responsible Electorate: Rationality in Presidential Voting, 1936–1960. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  50. Kittilson, Miki Caul. 2008. Representing Women: The Adoption of Family Leave in Comparative Perspective. The Journal of Politics 70 (02): 323–334.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  51. Knudsen, Knud, and Kari Wærness. 2001. National Context, Individual Characteristics and Attitudes on Mothers’ Employment: A Comparative Analysis of Great Britain, Sweden and Norway. Acta Sociologica 44 (1): 67–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  52. Korpi, W. 1980. Social Policy and Distributional Conflict in the Capitalist Democracies. A Preliminary Comparative Framework. West European Politics 3 (3): 296–316.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  53. Korpi, Walter. 2000. Faces of Inequality: Gender, Class, and Patterns of Inequalities in Different Types of Welfare States. Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State and Society 7 (2): 127–191.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  54. Kremer, Monique. 2007. How Welfare States Care: Culture, Gender and Parenting in Europe. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  55. Krosnick, Jon A. 1988. The Role of Attitude Importance in Social Evaluation: A Study of Policy Preferences, Presidential Candidate Evaluations, and Voting Behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 55 (2): 196–210.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  56. Lambert, Priscilla A. 2008. The Comparative Political Economy of Parental Leave and Child Care: Evidence from Twenty OECD Countries. Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State and Society 15 (3): 315–344.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  57. Leitner, Sigrid. 2003. Varieties of Familialism: The Caring Function of the Family in Comparative Perspective. European Societies 5 (4): 353–375.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  58. Lewis-Beck, M.S. 1988. Economics and Elections: The Major Western Democracies. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
  59. Lewis, Jane. 1992. Gender and the Development of Welfare Regimes. Journal of European Social Policy 2 (3): 159–173.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  60. Lewis, Jane. 2008. Children, Changing Families and Welfare States. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing.Google Scholar
  61. Lipset, Seymour Martin. 1960. Revolution and Counterrevolution: Change and Persistence in Social Structures. Piscataway: Transaction Publishers.Google Scholar
  62. Lipset, Seymour Martin, and Stein Rokkan. 1967. Party Systems and Voter Alignments: Cross-National Perspectives. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
  63. Lister, Ruth. 1995. Dilemmas in Engendering Citizenship. Economy and Society 24 (1): 35–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  64. Mair, Peter. 1997. Party System Change: Approaches and Interpretations. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
  65. Mischke, M. 2013. Public Attitudes Toward Family Policies in Europe: Linking Institutional Context and Public Opinion. Berlin: Springer.Google Scholar
  66. Morel, Natalie, Bruno Palier, and Joakim Palme. 2012. Towards a Social Investment Welfare State? Ideas, Policies and Challenges. Bristol: Policy Press.Google Scholar
  67. Morgan, Kimberly. 2005. The “Production” of Child Care: How Labor Markets Shape Social Policy and Vice Versa. Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State and Society 12 (2): 243–263.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  68. Morgan, Kimberly. 2006. Working Mothers and the Welfare State: Religion and the Politics of Work-Family Policies in Western Europe and the United States. Stanford: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
  69. Morgan, Kimberly. 2013. Path-Shifting of the Welfare State: Electoral Competition and the Expansion of Work-Family Policies in Western Europe. World Politics 65: 73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  70. Morgan, Kimberly, and Kathrin Zippel. 2003. Paid to Care: The Origins and Effects of Care Leave Policies in Western Europe. Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State and Society 10 (1): 49–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  71. Nannestad, P, and P. Martin 1994. The Vp-Function: A Survey of the Literature on Vote and Popularity Functions after 25 Years. Public Choice 79: 213–245.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  72. Nieuwenhuis, R., Van Lancker, W., Collado, D., and Cantillon, B. 2016. Has the Potential for Compensating Poverty by Women’s Employment Growth Been Depleted? ImPRovE Working Paper No. 16/02. Antwerp: Herman Deleeck Centre for Social Policy-University of Antwerp.Google Scholar
  73. Nygård, M., and N. Krüger. 2012. Poverty, Families and the Investment State: the Impact of Social Investment Ideas on Family Policy Discourses in Finland and Germany. European Societies 14 (5): 755–777.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  74. O’Connor, Julia S., Ann Shola Orloff, and Sheila Shaver. 1999. States, Markets, Families: Gender, Liberalism and Social Policy in Australia, Canada, Great Britain and the United States. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  75. Orloff, Ann. 1993. Gender and the Social Rights of Citizenship: The Comparative Analysis of Gender Relations and Welfare States. American Sociological Review 58 (3): 303–328.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  76. Pettit, B., and J. Hook. 2005. The Structure of Women’s Employment in Comparative Perspective. Social Forces 84: 779–801.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  77. Pierson, Paul. 1993. When Effect Becomes Cause: Policy Feedback and Political Change. World Politics 45 (04): 595–628.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  78. Plantenga, Janneke, and Johan Hansen. 1999. Assessing Equal Opportunities in the European Union. International Labour Review 138 (4): 351–379.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  79. Powell, G.Bingham, and Guy D. Whitten. 1993. A Cross-National Analysis of Economic Voting: Taking Account of the Political Context. American Journal of Political Science 37 (2): 391–414.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  80. Sainsbury, Diane (ed.). 1994. Gendering Welfare States. London: SAGE.Google Scholar
  81. Saraceno, Chiara. 1994. The Ambivalent Familism of the Italian Welfare State. Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State and Society 1 (1): 60–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  82. Schumacher, Gijs, Barbara Vis, and Kees Van Kersbergen. 2013. Political Parties’ Welfare Image, Electoral Punishment and Welfare State Retrenchment. Comparative European Politics 11 (1): 1–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  83. Scruggs, Lyle, Detlef Jahn and Kati Kuitto. 2014. Comparative Welfare Entitlements Dataset 2. Version 2014-03. University of Connecticut & University of Greifswald.Google Scholar
  84. Shin, Jungsub. 2016. The Consequences of Government Ideology and Taxation on Welfare Voting. Political Research Quarterly 69 (3): 430–443.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  85. Steiber, N., and B. Haas. 2009. Ideals or Compromises? The Attitude-Behaviour Relationship in Mothers’ Employment’, Socio-Economic Review 7: 639–668.Google Scholar
  86. Steiber, N., and B. Haas. 2012. Advances in Explaining Women's Employment Patterns. Socio-Economic Review 10: 343–367.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  87. Strom, K., and W.C. Müller. 1999. Political Parties and Hard Choices. In Policy, Office or Votes? How Political Parties in Western Europe Make Hard Choices, eds. Strom, K., and W.C. Müller, 1–35. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
  88. Thévenon, Olivier. 2008. Family Policies in Europe: Available Databases and Initial Comparisons. Vienna Yearbook of Population Research 6 (1): 165–177.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  89. Uunk, W., M. Kalmijn, and R. Muffels. 2005. The Impact of Young Children on Women’s Labour Supply. A Reassessment of Institutional Effects in Europe. Acta Sociologica 48: 41–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  90. Van Bavel, Jan. 2010. Choice of Study Discipline and the Postponement of Motherhood in Europe: The Impact of Expected Earnings, Gender Composition, and Family Attitudes. Demography 47 (2): 439–458.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  91. Van Kersbergen, Kees. 1995. Social Capitalism: A Study of Christian Democracy and the Post-War Settlement of the Welfare State. Abingdon: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Copyright information

© Macmillan Publishers Ltd., part of Springer Nature 2018

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Department for Political ScienceLund UniversityLundSweden
  2. 2.Department for Political Science and International RelationsUniversity of GenevaGenevaSwitzerland

Personalised recommendations

Cite article

Buy options