The Rise of `New' Social Classes within the Service Class in The Netherlands

Abstract

abstract:The employment structure of The Netherlands and other advanced countries is evolving from industrial to postindustrial. Yet existing social class schemata, like the well-known Erikson, Goldthorpe and Portocarero (EGP) class schema, were constructed for an industrial employment structure. In this study, we adjust the EGP class schema to account for this transformation by using new class theories. We distinguish a 'new' class of social and cultural specialists and an 'old' class of technocrats with both a higher and a lower version in the service class. Our research question concerns the extent to which the adjusted EGP class schema is a better predictor of people's political orientation than the standard EGP class schema. We assume that the 'new' classes differ in their political orientation from the 'old' classes. We also assume that, during their formation, the 'new' classes become increasingly effective in explaining differences in people's political orientation. Experts' knowledge is employed to classify the occupations. In addition, we use the data of 34,856 respondents gathered between 1970 and 2003 in The Netherlands. The adjusted EGP class schema explains people's political orientation substantially better than the standard EGP class schema; the 'new' classes vote significantly more for leftist parties and differ substantially in their political orientation from the 'old' classes. Furthermore, our results show that the political orientation of the low-grade social and cultural specialists has become more crystallized since 1970.

Class Structure, Labor Market Heterogeneity, and Living Conditions in Latin America

“…In advanced industrialized countries, the expansion and increasing heterogeneity of the higher service class has led some researchers to suggest a subdivision between large employers and high-level managers, on the one hand, and professionals, on the other. The arguments for this distinction have been that these two groups are engaged in different labor relations, are subject to different mobility patterns, and even present contrasting political attitudes (Güveli, Need, and De Graaf 2007;Gerber and Hout 2004). This distinction is probably also important in Latin America, where economic and political elites not only are more privileged in economic and social conditions, but also separate themselves from professionals in patterns of social reproduction and intergenerational mobility (Torche 2005;Solís y Boado 2016).…”

Career Class (Im)mobility of the Social-Cultural Specialists and the Technocrats in the Netherlands

“…Furthermore, Van de Werfhorst and De Graaf (2004) showed that even the field of education of these class members does not explain the differences in political orientation of controllers and social-cultural specialists. Güveli et al (2005Güveli et al ( , 2007 improved the classification of De Graaf and Steijn (1997) by implementing experts on labour and job markets. In this article, we use this improved version of the classification of the middle class, and provide an additional validity test for this classification.…”

“…These two classes are conceived in different ways but in all cases implying a cleavage within the middle class, whether between the 'old' versus the 'new' classes (Bruce-Biggs, 1979;Brint, 1984), cultural elite versus economic elite (Bourdieu, 1984), knowledge experts versus managers (Wright, 1985(Wright, , 1997, or technocrats/controllers versus social-cultural specialists (De Graaf and Steijn, 1997;Kriesi, 1989;Van de Werfhorst and De Graaf, 2004). Inspired by new class theories, Güveli et al (2005Güveli et al ( , 2007 have harmonized all of these conceptualizations. They distinguished two 'new' classes of high-and low-grade social-cultural specialists and two 'old' classes of high-and low-grade technocrats within the middle class.…”

Klasseneinflüsse auf das Wahlverhalten und die Wahlbeteiligung

“…Im Gegensatz zu Erikson und Goldthorpes (1992) Auffassung, dass die Dienstklasse ein im Wesentlichen konservatives Element der Gesellschaft sei, wählen die Angehörigen dieser Klasse in verschiedenen europäischen Ländern zunehmend links (Güveli et al 2003). Diese Entwicklung spricht auch gegen einen Kohorteneffekt der hier berichteten Assoziation SPD/Dienstklasse.…”

“…Besonders britische Autoren (Goldthorpe 1999;Evans 2000;Anderson und Heath 2002, 2003 verwiesen demgegenüber auf den andauenden Einfluss von Klasse auf das Wahlverhalten, internationale Studien hierzu finden sich insbesondere in Evans (1999b). Ob in der Tat eine Abnahme stattgefunden hat, in welchem Ausmaß und worin die Gründe dafür liegen, ist zur Zeit noch immer Gegenstand heftiger Kontroversen sowohl international (z.B.…”