Is Civic Work Widespread and Meaningful?

• In Event: 30406 - Politicizing the Workplace - The Intersections of Politics and Labor Relations

Abstract

Previous research suggests that some workers prefer “civic work”, i.e. work(places) that embody ideals of the “good society” and/or promote the common good. Civic work blurs the boundaries between work and civic participation. Little is known, however, whether civic work is widespread across the economy and meaningful for workers. To address this, we analyze new measures of civic work introduced to the biennial Current Population Survey Civic Engagement and Volunteering Supplement in 2021. We find that an overwhelming majority of workers agree that their workplace and own work, respectively, contributes to the community. Differences across levels of education and other covariates are relatively small. We also find that measures of civic work are by far the strongest predictors of pride in employer and work satisfaction, eclipsing e.g. income, education, and occupational prestige. Finally, civic work is correlated with other civic behaviors, but the relationships are relatively weak. These findings suggest that civic work is widespread and meaningful to many workers, warranting further research.

Authors

• Kristinn Már Ársælsson, Duke Kunshan University

• Laura Hanson Schlachter, AmeriCorps

• Chaeyoon Lim, Washington University in St. Louis