Works councils and workers’ party preferences in Germany
利用德国工人面板数据，研究发现企业职工委员会的存在与工人对极右翼政党的偏好负相关，与社会民主党和左翼党的偏好正相关，且这种影响存在性别差异。
Abstract Research on the consequences of works councils has been dominated by economic aspects. Our study provides evidence that works councils have non‐financial consequences for society that go beyond the boundaries of the workplace. Using panel data from a large sample of workers in Germany, we show that works councils have an influence on workers’ party preferences. Works council presence is negatively associated with preferences for extreme right‐wing parties and positively associated with preferences for the Social Democratic Party and The Left. These results hold in panel data estimations including a large set of controls and accounting for unobserved individual‐specific factors. Our findings fit the notion that workplace democracy increases workers’ solidarity and their awareness of social and political issues. However, the influence of works council representation on party preferences is gender‐specific. Asymmetric gender norms within society may entail a lower responsiveness of women's party preferences to workplace democracy.