Firm-Based Origins of Anti-System Politics

This article proposes a firm-based theory to explain the rise of anti-system politics, emphasizing the influence of firms on political attitudes. It argues that economic factors like globalization and technological change are insufficient explanations without considering firm strategies as meso-level mediators of structural changes. Low-road employers, who offer low-quality jobs, create a mismatch between workers’ economic experiences and expectations, fostering feelings of unfairness and political dissatisfaction. Using a differences-in-differences design based on changes in Italian retail regulation, the study finds that the entry of large, low-road retailers boosts support for a radical right party, Lega Nord. A conjoint experiment surveying Italian private sector employees ( n = 1340) links low-road employment, within-firm inequality, and out-group employment opportunities to perceptions of unfairness and anti-system political attitudes. These results highlight the importance of firm-level dynamics in political analysis.