A study on the influence of social movements on political representation focusing on the minimum wage case in the mid- 2010s American states

This study examines how the social movement can contribute to improving political representation with the case of the minimum wage legislation in American states after 2012. The contribution of this research is that it’s an empirical analysis of how social movement affects the legislative process, especially in the agenda-setting stage and how social discourse takes part in this process, given the lack of research concerning determinants of the state legislation of the higher minimum wage, especially focusing on the influence of the social movement on the legislation. I analyze the impact of the social movement, measured by the media exposure frequency, on public opinion, the proposal of bills and the legislation with the national-level time serial and the state-level data. I investigate the impact of the social discourse on public opinion and the legislative process to illuminate the underlying mechanism where the social movement affects the political outcome. The social movement contributes to the improvement of political representation by spreading the social discourse, setting the agenda in civic and political society and triggering partisan politics for institutional change.