Frontiers in Social Science features new research in the flagship journals of the Social Science Research Council’s founding disciplinary associations. Every month we publish a new selection of articles from the most recent issues of these journals, marking the rapid advance of the frontiers of social and behavioral science.

Caste identities constrain occupational choices

Field experimental evidence from rural India reveals that workers are less willing to accept job offers for tasks that conflict with their caste identities, especially for tasks associated with castes that rank lower in the social hierarchy.

Author(s)
Suanna Oh
Journal
American Economic Review
Citation
Oh, Suanna. "Does Identity Affect Labor Supply?" American Economic Review 113, no. 8 (2023): 2055-83. DOI: 10.1257/aer.20211826 Copy
Abstract

How does identity influence economic behavior in the labor market? I investigate this question in rural India, focusing on the effect of caste identity on job-specific labor supply. In a field experiment, laborers choose whether to take up various job offers, which differ in associations with specific castes. Workers are less willing to accept offers that are linked to castes other than their own, especially when those castes rank lower in the social hierarchy. Workers forgo large payments to avoid job offers that conflict with their caste identity, even when these decisions are made in private.

The Capitol riot decreased public affiliation with the Republican Party and Donald Trump

Daily panel data from a large sample of US social media users reveals that the insurrection at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021 caused a large-scale decrease in expressions of identification with the Republican Party and Donald Trump in Twitter biographies.

Author(s)
Gregory Eady, Frederik Hjorth, and Peter Thisted Dinesen
Journal
American Political Science Review
Citation
Eady, Gregory, Hjorth, Frederik, and Peter Thisted Dinesen. "Do Violent Protests Affect Expressions of Party Identity? Evidence from the Capitol Insurrection." American Political Science Review 117, no. 3 (August 2023): 1151 - 1157. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003055422001058 Copy
Abstract

The insurrection at the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021, was the most dramatic contemporary manifestation of deep political polarization in the United States. Recent research shows that violent protests shape political behavior and attachments, but several questions remain unanswered. Using day-level panel data from a large sample of US social media users to track changes in the identities expressed in their Twitter biographies, we show that the Capitol insurrection caused a large-scale decrease in outward expressions of identification with the Republican Party and Donald Trump, with no indication of reidentification in the weeks that followed. This finding suggests that there are limits to party loyalty: a violent attack on democratic institutions sets boundaries on partisanship, even among avowed partisans. Furthermore, the finding that political violence can deflect copartisans carries the potential positive democratic implication that those who encourage or associate themselves with such violence pay a political cost.

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