Class Voting in Capitalist Democracies Since World War II: Dealignment, Realignment, or Trendless Fluctuation?

Abstract

KEY WORDS: political sociology, class analysis, political behavior, political change ABSTRACf Over the last two decades, many social scientists have argued that the stable class politics of industrial capitalism is giving way to newer types of social and attitudinal cleavages. Some scholars have gone further to associate what they see as significant declines in the anchorings provided by class with the rise of new political movements, parties, and even politicians standing for office completely outside traditional party systems. Advances in class theory and statistical methods coupled with the availability of high quality data have led others to reexamine the issue. They have suggested that these arguments reflect a misreading of the empirical evidence and/or exaggerate the signifi cance of these developments. We conclude that despite the absence of a clear consensus in the field, theories asserting a universal process of class dealign ment are not supported. 137 0360-0572195/0815-0137$05.00 Annu. Rev. Sociol. 1995.21:137-162. Downloaded from www.annualreviews.org Access provided by Western Michigan University on 02/02/15. For personal use only. Quick links to online content Further ANNUAL REVIEWS Annu. Rev. Sociol. 1995.21:137-162. Downloaded from www.annualreviews.org Access provided by Western Michigan University on 02/02/15. For personal use only. Annu. Rev. Sociol. 1995.21:137-162. Downloaded from www.annualreviews.org Access provided by Western Michigan University on 02/02/15. For personal use only. Annu. Rev. Sociol. 1995.21:137-162. Downloaded from www.annualreviews.org Access provided by Western Michigan University on 02/02/15. For personal use only. Annu. Rev. Sociol. 1995.21:137-162. Downloaded from www.annualreviews.org Access provided by Western Michigan University on 02/02/15. For personal use only.

Unequal Political Participation in Europe

“…Although in the past educational biases in turnout have been limited or nonexistent in Europe (Norris 2002;Oppenhuis 1995;Topf 1995a), recent research has shown that such biases are becoming relevant for this form of participation, which has traditionally been considered the most egalitarian (Caul 2005). Third, in recent decades some authors have claimed that class no longer retains its capacity to shape politics (Clark andLipset 1991, 2001;Manza, Hout, and Brooks 1995).…”

Social stratification and attitudes: a comparative analysis of the effects of class and education in Europe1

“…Class differences in attitudes have been documented particularly well in the political realm (Evans 1993; Lipset [1959] 1981). Numerous studies have shown that the working class is more supportive of left‐wing parties than the middle class, although this pattern of ‘class voting’ has diminished over time (De Graaf, Nieuwbeerta, and Heath 1995; Manza, Hout, and Brooks 1995). Related to this is the finding that the working class is more egalitarian in its attitudes toward economic issues than the middle class (Van de Werfhorst and De Graaf 2004; Wright 1985).…”

Social Class and Political Engagement in the United States

“…One of those is most certainly class differences in political views and party preferences. There is an illustrious tradition of studies of vote choice or political beliefs and class (Hout et al ; Hout et al ; Manza et al ; Manza and Brooks ; Gelman et al ; Hout and Laurison ). The take‐home point of all of these is that generally speaking, and despite what Thomas Frank () and others tend to assume based on the association between state‐level characteristics and voting patterns, people with less (that is, poor and working class people) tend to be more in favor of the kinds of economically redistributive or safety‐net programs that would benefit them (and, in the United States, to vote for the Democrats).…”