Locked Out and Left Behind

Submit your email address to register for this briefing on March 4th at 4 pm ET/ 1 pm PT. Why do so many working- and lower-income Americans sit out elections — even when the issues affect their lives most directly? In this timely conversation, we’ll explore new research on what’s often called “voter apathy” and uncover a different story: many people who don’t vote aren’t disengaged from their communities, they’re disengaged from a political system they experience as distant, unresponsive, and built for someone else. Swarthmore sociologist Daniel Laurison, who led the study, will walk us through findings from his latest research, Understanding the Political Disconnect, which examines why trust in political institutions is low among lower-income Americans, how feelings of exclusion shape participation, and what meaningful engagement might actually require. Daniel Laurison is an Associate Professor of Sociology at Swarthmore College, and the Director of Swarthmore’s Healthy, Equitable and Responsive Democracy Initiative (HEARD) and its Politics and Equal Participation Lab (PEPL). He studies US politics, inequalities in political participation, and social class mobility and reproduction. In all of his work, he is interested in how social class inequalities, in combination with racial hierarchies and other forms of inequality, are produced and maintained, as well as how they could be transformed. He has authored or co-authored three books: Producing Politics: Inside the Exclusive Campaign World Where the Privileged Few Shape Politics for All of Us (Beacon Press 2022); The Class Ceiling: Why it Pays to Be Privileged (Policy Press 2019, co-authored with Sam Friedman) and Social Class in the 21st Century (2015, Penguin, as part of a team lead by Mike Savage). He has also published articles in leading journals such as American Sociological Review, American Behavioral Scientist, and Social Forces. Zoom links and reminders will be emailed within 24 hours before the event. A recording will be sent to everyone who registers for this event.