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How Employers Recruit Their Workers into Politics—And Why Political Scientists Should Care

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 June 2016

Alexander Hertel-Fernandez
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Abstract

In the wake of the Citizens United Supreme Court decision, many American private-sector employers now have the legal right to recruit their workers into politics and to fire or discipline employees who refuse to participate. How many firms and workers are engaged in this kind of political recruitment and why? And how have the opportunities for the political recruitment of workers by their employers changed over time? Drawing on national surveys of top corporate managers and workers, as well as a review of the legal literature, I provide initial answers to these questions and illustrate the implications of employer political recruitment for a range of substantive and normative issues in American politics. My findings invite further research and discussion about this feature of the American workplace and its effects on politics and policy.

Type
Reflections
Information
Perspectives on Politics , Volume 14 , Issue 2 , June 2016 , pp. 410 - 421
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 2016 

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