A new wave of solo self-employed workers?
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2021-08-08
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en
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Abstract
It is often believed that the self-employed are a homogenous class that are most likely conservative
right-wing voters. Flexibilization of labor markets and the rise of solo self-employed workers has
changed this. A new wave of solo self-employed workers has entered the self-employed class and
made it more heterogenous. This research explores the voting behavior of self-employed workers
with theories from both an economic and cultural perspective. Using data from the ESS round 9, the
voting behavior of self-employed workers from eight different countries was analyzed using multiple
variables to account for both economic and cultural theories. The findings suggests that the selfemployed
are a heterogenous group that vote differently, with solo self-employed workers being
significantly more likely to vote for new-left wing parties compared to self-employed workers with
employees, and that the new wave of solo self-employed workers are even more likely to vote for
new-left wing parties compared to the old wave of solo self-employed workers. Furthermore, the
impact of workplace autonomy on voting behavior was also analyzed. The literature on autonomy
and voting behavior is scarce, but most studies believe that autonomy can be seen as a predictor of
right-wing voting behavior. In contrast to previous studies, this thesis found that autonomy is actually
a predictor of new-left wing voting when analyzing solo self-employed workers, but not when
analyzing the self-employed workers with employees. The findings thus suggest that autonomy
means something different for the solo self-employed workers than that it does for the other selfemployed
workers.
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Faculteit der Managementwetenschappen