Conservatives frame keeping wages low as protecting workers’ jobs

Evidence

The minimum wage set by the federal government has stagnated for decades. In a recent year, generous Wall Street bonuses far exceeded the combined paychecks of over 1 million workers paid the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour (Anderson, 2015). A number of lawmakers, mainly those of a conservative bent, oppose raising the minimum wage a few dollars on the grounds that it will drive businesses abroad and result in worker lay-offs. This justification conveys the uncharitable implication that it is in the self-interest of low-wage workers to remain underpaid for their labor if they want to keep their jobs. — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 1519

Categorization

• XREF: This is exactly the rationality/exculpation move the reader wants to test against Cooper-style social conservatism where protecting the nation’s jobs/security licenses exclusionary policy.
• SEED: Angle: how ‘it’s for your own good’ paternalism is a common rationalization across domains — from wage policy to immigration to surveillance.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement: How People Do Harm…, 1519