Abstract

Across Western countries, research has shown a clear decline in the previously strong relationship between voters’ social class positions (i.e., their occupation-based position in the social stratification) and their party choice. The old pattern of working-class voters preferring left-wing parties and middle and upper middle-class voters preferring right-wing parties has weakened to the point of almost disappearing. Along with developments towards an individualized, so-called post-modern society, this has led researchers to proclaim a ‘death of class’ in social as well as political terms. However, sociological research continues to document stark differences in the social conditions under which members of different classes live. As such, class is certainly alive in the objective social world. But (how) do citizens perceive social classes, if at all, and do such perceptions have political importance, particularly for party choice? Based on a series of studies of citizens’ perceptions of what social classes are and the relationship between their class identities and sympathies and party choice the talk provides evidence that despite the weakened relevance of objective class, citizens’ subjective perceptions of class influence their electoral choices to a substantial degree. Class is, therefore, also alive in electoral terms in current Western democracies.

Short bio

Rune Stubager is currently a Carlsberg Monograph fellow at AIAS and a Professor at the Department of Political Science at Aarhus University. He conducts research into party choice and public opinion - i.e. into why voters have the political attitudes that they do and why they vote for the parties that they do. In particular, he focuses on the importance of social factors such as voters' position in the social structure or perceptions of social groups in society. The main focus of his research is Denmark and since 2011, he has been the co-PI of the Danish National Election Study (see more at https://www.valgprojektet.dk/).

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