Labor market risk , redistributive demand and parties ' social policy supply : Not all outsiders are created equal

This paper investigates the role played by labor market risk in shaping individual social policy preferences and political orientations. Do outsiders in the labor market, which are insecure about their future income, express a higher redistributive demand than their insider counterparts do? Does their marginalization in the labor market translate into political disenchantment? When they take part in national elections, do they vote for the same political parties supported by individuals experiencing better labor market conditions? This paper tries to answer these questions combining individual level data from the European Social Surveys for 23 OECD countries with party level information from the Comparative Manifesto Database. The empirical analysis confirms that labor market status is a strong determinant of individual redistributive and political preferences. Moreover, it suggests that future research should overcome the simple notion of dualization between insiders and outsiders, emphasizing the differences between temporary workers and unemployed individuals. Indeed, temporary workers proved to be clearly distinguished from labor market insiders by their stronger support for redistributive policies and by their more pro-left and pro-welfare lining political preferences. However, they appear to be more integrated in the political process than unemployed individuals are. Moreover, their stronger support for left and pro-welfare parties seems not to be combined with more pronounced non-corporatist attitudes.