Political action by ordinary people is typically locally based, and it focuses on local issues or on local responses to higher level trends. Changes in political activism can have important consequences for issues such as public service delivery and the form and role of government. Flexible employment such as part-time work, off-shift work, temporary contracts, self- employment, and homeworking may change patterns of political activism by making it more difficult for unions and political parties to identify the common basis for political action and by differentiating increasingly divergent wage and compensation structures. Any evaluation of political activism depends critically on citizen perception of the openness of local political institutions; if these institutions are perceived as inaccessible, political activism would be less likely. Thus, the nature and perception of local political institutions intervenes in the restructuring of citizenship. This project will examine how political activism by citizens is affected by the increase in flexible employment forms that have accompanied economic restructuring. It hypothesizes that flexible employment and changes in wage levels, job security, and time availability lead to re-evaluations of the potential of political activism. In this process, perception of the local political structure acts as an intervening variable. Trends in activism are examined through interviews with a sample of household members to reconstruct their employment and political histories. Three interviewing strategies and alternative methodological techniques will be employed in order to determine how the relationship between economic restructuring and political activism can best be assessed. This Research Planning Grant for Women will help fill a void in empirical knowledge about changes in the work experiences of households, changes in the perceptions of local political institutions, and political activism on the part of citizens. This study will inform research related to restructuring, the state, and citizenship, and it will advance our understanding of the fabric of local democracy under conditions of restructuring.
