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American states differ in their protection of workers, acceptance of organized labor, dominant industrial cultures, and regarding labor unions' capacity and political power. In this article, I examine declining union membership in the states and analyze various laws that limit the political power of unions and assess the consequences of these developments. I also document and explain a recent resurgence of labor organizing, political resistance, and work stoppages. There is a seeming contradiction between a labor movement that is both declining as well as gaining strength. However, a common theme in each of these trends is the centrality of state governments and politics regarding labor policy and union influence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the New Deal, labor has been a key member of the Democratic coalition. As unions decline, their centrality to the Democratic Party has also diminished. At the same time, state variation in party preferences, party strength, and the types of unions that remain has led some unions to become involved in Republican politics. In this manuscript we investigate how central unions are in party networks using state legislative donation data from 2000–2016. We find that union contributions are associated with increasing centrality to the Democratic Party, while business interest contributions are associated with unions being less central. Only union membership rates are related to labor's position in the Republican network. This work has implications for how we consider which groups are under a party's umbrella. While labor may spend more money, it cannot keep pace with business groups in the party coalition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholarship indicates that women and gender are underrepresented in Political Science textbooks, particularly those in American Politics. We complement those analyses by focusing on the "companion readers" often paired with textbooks. Readers give students a glimpse at "real political science," showing how the field is studied and what political scientists value. Do the readers convey that "women also know stuff," women are political actors, and gender is a relevant construct? The answer to each of these three questions is a resounding no. Analyzing women and gender representation in readers for three introductory sub-fields (American, Comparative, and Global Politics), we find a strong preference toward scholarship by men. Our results indicate only a small proportion of women authors and an even lower percentage of articles that focus on women. Moreover, the readers have not changed over time resulting in readers that are still "pale, male, and stale." Because readers offer a snapshot of the field, and may be adopted passively in an introductory course, we argue that the absence of women harms students and political science itself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What leads states to adopt more restrictive labour policies? The conventional wisdom is that unified Republican states, with help from conservative political networks, are more likely to adopt restrictions on labour unions. We argue that party control of government matters but is constrained by voter preferences and the power of organised labour. We create new estimates of state-level public support for unions by income thirds using dynamic multilevel regression and poststratification. Using this measure, we predict the adoption of restrictive labour policies, such as right-to-work and minimum wage preemption laws. We find that Republican governments are less likely to adopt restrictive policies when unions are strong and when union support among middle- and low-income earners is high. Interestingly, these results run contrary to much of the literature on the unequal representation of the wealthy in public policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholarship indicates that women and gender are underrepresented in Political Science textbooks, particularly those in American Politics. We complement those analyses by focusing on the "companion readers" often paired with textbooks. Readers give students a glimpse at "real political science," showing how the field is studied and what political scientists value. Do the readers convey that "women also know stuff," women are political actors, and gender is a relevant construct? The answer to each of these three questions is a resounding no. Analyzing women and gender representation in readers for three introductory sub-fields (American, Comparative, and Global Politics), we find a strong preference toward scholarship by men. Our results indicate only a small proportion of women authors and an even lower percentage of articles that focus on women. Moreover, the readers have not changed over time resulting in readers that are still "pale, male, and stale." Because readers offer a snapshot of the field, and may be adopted passively in an introductory course, we argue that the absence of women harms students and political science itself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author encourages the scholars of labor politics to address the politics of labor decline in the U.S. Topics discussed include the role unions play in civic engagement, political differences across states, and the ability of strong unions to encourage more political activity among members, increase community and legislative engagement, and shift the composition of legislatures.