By means of a reanalysis of the most relevant data source—the International Social Mobility and Politics File—this article criticizes the newly grown consensus in political sociology that class voting has declined since World War II. An increase in crosscutting cultural voting, rooted in educational differences rather than a decline in class voting, proves responsible for the decline of traditional class-party alignments. Moreover, income differences have not become less but more consequential for voting behavior during this period. It is concluded that the new consensus has been built on quicksand. Class is not dead—it has been buried alive under the increasing weight of cultural voting, systematically misinterpreted as a decline in class voting because of the widespread application of the so-called Alford index.
Edgar Allan Poe, “ The Premature Burial,” in The Short Fiction of Edgar Allan Poe: An Annotated Edition (1844; repr., Urbana/Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1990), 309.
2.
Terry Nichols Clark and Seymour Martin Lipset, “Are Social Classes Dying?” International Sociology6, no. 4 (1991): 397-410.
3.
Jan Pakulski and Malcom Waters, The Death of Class (London/Delhi : Sage, 1996).
4.
John H.Goldthorpe and Gordon Marshall, “The Promising Future of Class Analysis: A Response to Recent Critiques,” Sociology26, no. 3 ( 1992): 381-400.
5.
Terry Nichols Clark and Seymour Martin Lipset, eds., The Breakdown of Class Politics. A Debate on Post-Industrial Stratification (Boulder, CO : Westview, 2001); See for an overview: Terry Nichols Clark, “What Have We Learned in a Decade on Class and Party Politics?” in The Breakdown of Class Politics: A Debate on Post-Industrial Stratification, eds. Terry Nichols Clark and Seymour Martin Lipset (Boulder, CO: Westview, 2001), 6-39.
6.
E.g., Geoffrey Evans, “The Continued Significance of Class Voting,” Annual Review of Political Science3, no. 1 (2000): 401-17; John H. Goldthorpe, “ Class and Politics in Advanced Industrial Societies,” in The Breakdown of Class Politics: A Debate on Post-Industrial Stratification , eds. Terry Nichols Clark and Seymour Martin Lipset (Boulder, CO: Westview, 2001), 105-20; Mike Hout, Clem Brooks, and Jeff Manza, “The Persistence of Classes in Post-Industrial Societies,” International Sociology8, no. 3 (1993): 259-77; and Jeff Manza, Michael Hout, and Clem Brooks, “ Class Voting in Capitalist Democracies since World War II: Dealignment, Realignment, or Trendless Fluctuation?” Annual Review of Sociology21 (1995): 137-62.
7.
Paul Nieuwbeerta , “The Democratic Class Struggle in Postwar Societies: Class Voting in Twenty Countries, 1945-1990,” Acta Sociologica39, no. 4 (1996): 345-83; Paul Nieuwbeerta, “ The Democratic Class Struggle in Postwar Societies: Traditional Class Voting in Twenty Countries, 1945-1990 ”; Paul Nieuwbeerta, The Democratic Class Struggle in Twenty Countries, 1945-1990 (Amsterdam : Thesis Publishers, 1995); and Paul Nieuwbeerta and Nan Dirk de Graaf, “ Traditional Class Voting in Twenty Postwar Societies,” in The End of Class Politics? Class Voting in Comparative Perspective, ed. Geoffrey Evans (Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 1999), 23-58.
8.
Paul Nieuwbeerta, “ The Democratic Class Struggle in Postwar Societies: Traditional Class Voting in Twenty Countries, 1945-1990,” in The Breakdown of Class Politics: A Debate on Post-Industrial Stratification, ed. Terry Nichols Clark and Seymour Martin Lipset, 121-36. (Boulder, CO: Westview, 2001), 132.
9.
See also Clem Brooks, Paul Nieuwbeerta, and Jeff Manza, “Cleavage-Based Voting Behavior in Cross-National Perspective: Evidence from Six Postwar Democracies ,” Social Science Research35, no. 1 (2006): 88-128; Geoffrey Evans, Anthony Heath, and Clive Payne, “ Class: Labour as a Catch-All Party?” in Critical Elections. British Parties and Voters in Long-Term Perspective, eds. Geoffrey Evans and Pippa Norris (London/Thousand Oaks /New Delhi: Sage, 1999), 87-101; Anthony F. Heath, Michael Yang, and Harvey Goldstein, “ Multilevel Analysis of the Changing Relationship between Class and Party in Britain 1964-1992,” Quality and Quantity: European Journal for Methodology30, no. 4 (1996): 389-404; and David L. Weakliem and Anthony Heath, “ The Secret Life of Class Voting: Britain, France and the United States since the 1930s,” in The End of Class Politics? Class Voting in Comparative Context, ed. Geoffrey Evans (Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 1999), 97-136.
10.
Paul Nieuwbeerta , “The Democratic Class Struggle in Postwar Societies: Class Voting in Twenty Countries, 1945-1990,” Acta Sociologica39, no. 4 (1996): 345-83; Paul Nieuwbeerta, “ The Democratic Class Struggle in Postwar Societies: Traditional Class Voting in Twenty Countries, 1945-1990 ”; Paul Nieuwbeerta, The Democratic Class Struggle in Twenty Countries, 1945-1990 (Amsterdam : Thesis Publishers, 1995); and Paul Nieuwbeerta and Nan Dirk de Graaf, “ Traditional Class Voting in Twenty Postwar Societies,” in The End of Class Politics? Class Voting in Comparative Perspective, ed. Geoffrey Evans (Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 1999), 23-58.
11.
Jeffrey M. Stonecash, Class and Party in American Politics (Boulder, CO: Westview, 2000); Clem Brooks and David Brady, “Income, Economic Voting, and Long-Term Political Change, 1952-1996,” Social Forces77 no. 4 (1999): 1339-75. See also Larry M. Bartels, “ What's the Matter with What's the Matter with Kansas?” Quarterly Journal of Political Science1, no. 2 (2006): 201-26.
12.
Achterberg, Peter.2006. “Class Voting and the New Political Culture: Economic, Cultural and Environmental Voting in Late-Modern Countries,” International Sociology21 (2): 237-61.
13.
Nieuwbeerta, Paul, The Democratic Class Struggle in Twenty Countries, 1945—1990; and Paul Nieuwbeerta and Wout C. Ultee, “Class Voting in Western Industrialized Countries, 1945-1990: Systematizing and Testing Explanations,” European Journal of Political Research35, no. 1 (1999): 123-60.
14.
Robert R. Alford, “ Class Voting in the Anglo-American Political Systems,” in Party Systems and Voter Alignments: Cross-National Perspectives, eds. Seymour Martin Lipset and Stein Rokkan (New York: Free Press, 1967), 80.
15.
Robert R. Alford, “ Class Voting in the Anglo-American Political Systems,” 68-9.
16.
Terry Nichols Clark and Seymour Martin Lipset, “Are Social Classes Dying?” International Sociology6, no. 4 (1991): 397-410.
17.
Mike Hout, Clem Brooks, and Jeff Manza , “The Persistence of Classes in PostIndustrial Societies,” International Sociology8, no. 3 (1993): 259-77.
18.
Paul Nieuwbeerta, The Democratic Class Struggle in Twenty Countries, 1945-1990 (Amsterdam : Thesis Publishers, 1995).
19.
Paul Nieuwbeerta , “The Democratic Class Struggle in Postwar Societies: Class Voting in Twenty Countries, 1945-1990,” Acta Sociologica39, no. 4 (1996): 370. See also Paul Nieuwbeerta , The Democratic Class Struggle in Twenty Countries 1945-1990 (Amsterdam: Thesis Publishers, 1995); Paul Nieuwbeerta and Nan Dirk de Graaf, “ Traditional Class Voting in Twenty Postwar Societies,” in The End of Class Politics? Class Voting in Comparative Perspective, ed. Geoffrey Evans (Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 1999), 23-58; Paul Nieuwbeerta, “The Democratic Class Struggle in Postwar Societies: Traditional Class Voting in Twenty Countries, 1945-1990,” in The Breakdown of Class Politics: A Debate on Post-Industrial Stratification , eds. Terry Nichols Clark and Seymour Martin Lipset (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001), 121-35.
20.
Terry Nichols Clark and Seymour Martin Lipset, “Are Social Classes Dying?”
21.
Mike Hout, Clem Brooks, and Jeff Manza, “ The Persistence of Classes in PostIndustrial Societies.”
22.
Geoffrey Evans, ed., The End of Class Politics? Class Voting in Comparative Context ( Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 1999).
23.
Terry Nichols Clark and Seymour Martin Lipset, eds., The Breakdown of Class Politics: A Debate on Post-Industrial Stratification ( Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001).
24.
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25.
In earlier literature, “social conservatism” is often referred to as “authoritarianism,” while “social liberalism” is often referred to as “libertarianism.” Since the expression libertarianism is closely connected to antiregulatory free-market economic policies, we decided to use less ambiguous labels.
26.
E.g., Seymour Martin Lipset, “Democracy and Working-Class Authoritarianism ,” American Sociological Review24, no. 4 (1959): 482-501; John A. Fleishman, “ Attitude Organization in the General Public: Evidence for a Bidimensional Structure,” Social Forces67, no. 1 (1988): 159-84; Anthony F. Heath, Geoffrey Evans, and Jean Martin, “ The Measurement of Core Beliefs and Values: The Development of Balanced Socialist/Laissez Faire and Libertarian/Authoritarian Scales,” British Journal of Political Science24, no. 1 (1994): 115-32; Geoffrey Evans, Anthony Heath, and Mansur Lalljee, “Measuring Left, Right and Libertarian Authoritarian Values in the British Electorate ,” British Journal of Sociology47, no. 1 (1996): 93-112; Daniel V. A. Olson and Jackson W. Carroll , “Religiously Based Politics: Religious Elites and the Public,” Social Forces70, no. 3 (1992): 765-86.
27.
Seymour Martin Lipset, “ Democracy and Working-Class Authoritarianism.”
28.
Ronald Inglehart, The Silent Revolution: Changing Values and Political Styles among Western Public (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press , 1977).
29.
Seymour Martin Lipset, “ Democracy and Working-Class Authoritarianism,” 485.
30.
E.g., Erik Olin Wright , Class Structure and Income Determination (New York: Academic Press, 1979); Erik Olin Wright, Classes (London: Verso, 1985); and Gordon Marshall, Howard Newby, David Rose, and Carolyn Vogler, Social Class in Modern Britain (London: Hutchinson , 1988).
31.
Mike Hout, Clem Brooks, and Jeff Manza, “ The Persistence of Classes in PostIndustrial Societies.”
32.
Samuel A. Stouffer, Communism, Conformity, and Civil Liberties: A Cross Section of the Nation Speaks Its Mind (New York : John Wiley, 1955); Clyde Z. Nunn, Harry J. Crockett Jr. , and J. Allen Williams Jr., Tolerance for Nonconformity: A National Survey of Americans' Changing Commitment to Civil Liberties ( San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 1978); Paul Dekker and Peter Ester, “Working-Class Authoritarianism: A Re-Examination of the Lipset Thesis,” European Journal of Political Research15, no. 4 (1987): 395-415; Edward G. Grabb, “Marxist Categories and Theories of Class: The Case of Working-Class Authoritarianism,” Pacific Sociological Review23, no. 4 (1980): 359-76; Edward G. Grabb, “Working-Class Social Conservatism and Tolerance of Outgroups: A Reassessment,” Public Opinion Quarterly43, no. 1 (1979): 36-47; and Lawrence Bobo and Frederick C. Licari, “ Education and Political Tolerance: Testing the Effects of Cognitive Sophistication and Group Affect,” Public Opinion Quarterly53, no. 3 (1989): 285-308.
33.
Erik Olin Wright, Class Structure and Income Determination; and Erik Olin Wright, Cynthia Costello, David Hachen, and Joey Sprague, “ The American Class Structure,” American Sociological Review47, no. 6 (1982): 709-26.
34.
Dick Houtman , “Class, Culture, and Conservatism: Reassessing Education as a Variable in Political Sociology,” in The Breakdown of Class Politics: A Debate on Post-Industrial Stratification , eds. Terry Nichols Clark, and Seymour Martin Lipset (Boulder, CO: Westview, 2001), 161-95.; Dick Houtman, Class and Politics in Contemporary Social Science: `Marxism Lite' and Its Blind Spot for Culture ( New York: Aldine de Gruyter, 2006 ).
35.
Erik Olin Wright, Classes, 259-78; and Gordon Marshall, Howard Newby, David Rose, and Carolyn Vogler, Social Class in Modern Britain, 179-83.
36.
Paul DiMaggio , “Cultural Capital and School Success: The Impact of Status Culture Participation on the Grades of U.S. High School Students,”American Sociological Review47, no. 2 (1982):189-201; Paul DiMaggio and John Mohr, “ Cultural Capital, Educational Attainment, and Marital Selection,” American Journal of Sociology90, no. 6 (1985): 1231-61; and Paul DiMaggio and Francie Ostrower, “ Participation in the Arts by Black and White Americans,” Social Forces68, no. 3 (1990): 753-78.
37.
E.g., Paul M. De Graaf and Matthijs Kalmijn, “Trends in the Intergenerational Transmission of Cultural and Economic Status,” Acta Sociologica44, no. 1 (2001): 51-66.
38.
E.g., Howard Gabennesch, “Authoritarianism as World View ,” American Journal of Sociology77, no. 5 (1972): 857-75.
39.
E.g., Susan Tiano, “Authoritarianism and Political Culture in Argentina and Chile in the Mid-1960s,” Latin American Research Review21, no. 1 (1986): 73-98.
40.
E.g., Frederick D. Weil, “The Variable Effects of Education on Liberal Attitudes: A Comparative Historical Analysis of Anti-Semitism Using Public Opinion Survey Data,” American Sociological Review50, no. 4 ( 1985): 458-74.
41.
Erik Olin Wright, Class Structure and Income Determination; Erik Olin Wright, Classes .
42.
Cees P. Middendorp and Jos D. Meloen, “The Authoritarianism of the WorkingClass Revisited,” European Journal of Political Research18, no. 2 (1990): 257-67.
43.
Dick Houtman, “ Class, Culture, and Conservatism: Reassessing Education as a Variable in Political Sociology”; and Dick Houtman, Class and Politics in Contemporary Social Science: “Marxism Lite” and Its Blind Spot for Culture.
44.
Peter Achterberg and Dick Houtman, “Why Do So Many People Vote `Unnaturally'? A Cultural Explanation for Voting Behaviour.” European Journal for Political Research no. 1 ( 2006): 75-92; Dick Houtman, “Class, Culture, and Conservatism: Reassessing Education as a Variable in Political Sociology”; and Dick Houtman, Class and Politics in Contemporary Social Science: `Marxism Lite' and Its Blind Spot for Culture.
45.
Peter Achterberg and Dick Houtman, “Why Do So Many People Vote `Unnaturally'? A Cultural Explanation for Voting Behaviour”; Dick Houtman, “ Class, Culture, and Conservatism: Reassessing Education as a Variable in Political Sociology”; and Dick Houtman, Class and Politics in Contemporary Social Science: `Marxism Lite' and Its Blind Spot for Culture.
46.
Jeffrey M. Stonecash , Class and Party in American Politics (Boulder, CO: Westview, 2000).
47.
Clem Brooks and David Brady, “ Income, Economic Voting, and Long-Term Political Change, 1952-1996,” Social Forces77 no. 4 (1999): 1339-75.
48.
Jeffrey M. Stonecash, Class and Party in American Politics , 140; see also Larry M. Bartels, “What's the Matter with What's the Matter with Kansas?” Quarterly Journal of Political Science1, no. 2 (2006), 201-26.
49.
Peter Achterberg , “Class Voting and the New Political Culture: Economic, Cultural and Environmental Voting in Late-Modern Countries .”
50.
Michael Hechter , “From Class to Culture,” American Journal of Sociology110, no. 2 (2004): 400-45; Geoffrey C. Layman, The Great Divide: Religious and Cultural Conflict in American Party Politics (New York: Columbia University Press, 2001); and Peter Achterberg, “Class Voting and the New Political Culture: Economic, Cultural and Environmental Voting in Late-Modern Countries .”
51.
Peter Achterberg , “Class Voting and the New Political Culture: Economic, Cultural and Environmental Voting in Late-Modern Countries .”
52.
Paul Nieuwbeerta, The Democratic Class Struggle in Twenty Countries, 1945-1990; Paul Nieuwbeerta and Wout C. Ultee, “Class Voting in Western Industrialized Countries, 1945-1990: Systematizing and Testing Explanations,” European Journal of Political Research35, no. 1 (1999): 123-60.
53.
Paul Nieuwbeerta and Harry Ganzeboom, “International Social Mobility and Politics File: Documentation of an Integrated Dataset of 113 National Surveys Held in 16 Countries, 1956-1991” ( Amsterdam: Steinmetz Archive/SWIDOC Amsterdam Steinmetz archive codebook, 1996).
54.
Robert Erikson and John H. Goldthorpe , The Constant Flux: A Study of Class Mobility in Industrial Societies, (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1992): 38-9.
55.
John H. Goldthorpe, Social Mobility and Class Structure in Modern Britain ( Oxford, UK: Clarendon, 1980), 42.
56.
John H. Goldthorpe, Social Mobility and Class Structure in Modern Britain, 41.
57.
E.g., Erik Olin Wright , Class Structure and Income Determination (New York: Academic Press, 1979).
58.
Robert Erikson, “ Social Class of Men, Women and Families,” Sociology18, no. 4 ( 1984): 500-14.
59.
Paul Nieuwbeerta, The Democratic Class Struggle in Twenty Countries, 1945-1990 , 35.
60.
Our departure from Nieuwbeerta's operationalization and especially our decision to code the political parties according to their constituencies' left-right self-placement cause a substantial increase in the number of missing values: 33 of the 113 original datasets are excluded, causing Sweden (with 3 datasets) to disappear from our analysis altogether.
61.
Vincent Hoffman-Martinot , “Grüne and Verts: Two Faces of European Ecologism,” West European Politics14, no. 1 (1991): 70-95; and Ronald Inglehart, Modernization and Postmodernization: Cultural, Economic and Political Change in 43 Societies (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1997).
62.
Paul Nieuwbeerta , “The Democratic Class Struggle in Postwar Societies: Class Voting in Twenty Countries, 1945-1990”; Paul Nieuwbeerta, “ The Democratic Class Struggle in Postwar Societies: Traditional Class Voting in Twenty Countries, 1945-1990”; Paul Nieuwbeerta, The Democratic Class Struggle in Twenty Countries, 1945-1990; and Paul Nieuwbeerta and Nan Dirk de Graaf , “Traditional Class Voting in Twenty Postwar Societies.”
