Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-vvkck Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-27T14:24:04.742Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

3 - Do Citizens Want to Be Represented by Workers?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 October 2023

Tiffany D. Barnes
Affiliation:
University of Kentucky
Yann P. Kerevel
Affiliation:
Louisiana State University
Gregory W. Saxton
Affiliation:
Texas Tech University
Get access

Summary

Chapter 3 empirically addresses the question: Do citizens want to be represented by members of the working class? We demonstrate, using novel survey data from Argentina and Mexico and publicly available cross-national data from LAPOP, that citizens do prefer to be represented by legislators from the working class. To do this, we first examined patterns of support for working-class representation using a series of original survey questions in Argentina and Mexico. We asked citizens about their preferences for working-class representation and show that the average citizen in Argentina and Mexico both want more working-class deputies to occupy seats in congress. Then we introduce data on the class background of legislators obtained from elite survey data, and present descriptive information about the occupations, gender, and race/ethnicity of working-class deputies. Finally, using cross-national survey data and these data on legislators’ class background, we demonstrate that citizens have better evaluations of representative institutions when working-class deputies hold a higher share of seas in the national assembly.

Type
Chapter
Information
Working Class Inclusion
Evaluations of Democratic Institutions in Latin America
, pp. 53 - 91
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×