Cohort Differences in Swedish Union Membership 1956–2019 and the Role of Individualization

Discussions of the role of cohort differences have long been part of academic research on union membership, with a central hypothesis being that the general decline in unionization is caused by changes toward more individualistic values in the younger generations. However, the short time span of mo...

Descripción completa

Guardado en:
Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Erik Vestin, Patrik Vulkan
Formato: article
Lenguaje:EN
Publicado: Aalborg University 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://doaj.org/article/14718558cf2d40799f8827141f3bf1af
Etiquetas: Agregar Etiqueta
Sin Etiquetas, Sea el primero en etiquetar este registro!
Descripción
Sumario:Discussions of the role of cohort differences have long been part of academic research on union membership, with a central hypothesis being that the general decline in unionization is caused by changes toward more individualistic values in the younger generations. However, the short time span of most studies makes it uncertain if they can separate cohort effects from age effects. Using survey data going back to 1956, we test the individualization hypothesis. Our main result is that later Swedish cohorts are indeed less prone to join unions. In particular, the differences between cohorts born before and after ca 1970 are striking. We also provide evidence that the erosion in union membership in Sweden is not related to changes toward more individualistic values in later cohorts, or even to more negative views of unions per se.