Why working-class people account for around 1% of lawmakers in the US – and only 2% in the average democracy around the world

Filed 6d ago · Via The Conversation · The Buffoon Desk

THIS STORY IS SCORED

Myst

Kevin MacLeod · incompetech.com · CC BY 4.0

Photo: HatschiKa · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikimedia Commons

Researchers find that people who last held working-class jobs make up only about 1% of U.S. state legislatures and Congress, despite working-class Americans comprising roughly half the labor force. The pattern holds globally too: across 97 democracies studied, working-class representation averages just 2% of national legislatures.

The gap isn't due to lack of interest or qualification — working-class candidates are about as likely to run and win as professionals when they do run. The real barrier is that campaigning is financially and personally burdensome, and party gatekeepers, anticipating that burden, tend to recruit white-collar candidates instead.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.

✒ FROM THE EDITORIAL DESK

Both parties love invoking the working class in speeches while quietly building rosters of lawyers and business owners to actually represent them. It's a tidy arrangement: talk about workers, govern with professionals, and call the mismatch a coincidence.

Source: Read the original at The Conversation → Scored: Myst · Kevin MacLeod · CC BY 4.0

Read it scored.

Every story, every clown, every kazoo — in your pocket. Music plays automatically. Regret is optional.

GET IT ON iOS GET IT ON ANDROID