Diaconal and social
workers spend their days implementing social policy and exercising discretional
power while being regularly exposed to social inequalities. As an occupational
group, they are heavily influenced by official government decisions, which
might be expected to shape their political preferences. Our analyses, based on
the Street-Level Bureaucrats Survey 2011 (n = 1,237) and the
Finnish National Election Study 2011 (n = 1,298) reveal that
more than half of diaconal workers voted for conservative centrist parties –
the Christian Democrats and the Centre Party – in the 2011 parliamentary
elections, whereas two-thirds of social workers supported leftist or green
parties. The work context – the municipality/parish, length of work experience, and
primary work duties – also influenced voting behavior. The professional
identities and work environments of diaconal and social workers thus
differentiate them not only from other members of the same social class, but
also from each other in terms of partisanship.