Farewell to the rightist self-employed? 'New self-employment' and political alignments

Abstract

This study aims to provide theoretical and empirical clarity on whether people in new and precarious self-employment support the same political parties as those in traditional forms. Theoretical clarity is needed as the voting literature predominantly perceives self-employment in terms of class-based theories or insider/outsider theories, i.e., as a privileged grouping with shared interests as (potential) employers. Alternative perspectives, looking into the heterogeneity and precarization of self-employment have received less attention. Empirically, quantitative data are needed: Previous voting studies have not been able to differentiate the self-employed, either due to the lack of relevant indicators or because of low-N problems. Focusing on the Netherlands, this study addresses these shortcomings by analyzing data among over 800 self-employed without employees, using the Solo Self-Employment Panel. This study finds that the simple association between self-employment and rightist orientations is largely an oversimplification, and for growing segments of self-employment even a misrepresentation.