Class Politics - Political Sociology - Lecture Slides, Slides of Sociology

Download Class Politics - Political Sociology - Lecture Slides and more Slides Sociology in PDF only on Docsity! What’s Left of Class Politics? Bes docsity.com Notes for this Week’s Readings • Hout et al. article: Pg 805-808 & conclusion •Manza et al article: Pg137-146 •Van de Werfhorst & de Graaf article: Skip whole article. docsity.com Traditional Class Voting Alford Index (Manual vs non-manual employees) docsity.com Main Explanations for Class Dealignment • Working class moving right – Embourgeoisement of working class – Post-industrialism and white-collar work • Middle class moving left – New middle class of knowledge workers • Growing importance of Post-materialist value – Working class social conservatives – Middle class social progressives (two lefts) • Individualization of electorate docsity.com Decline of the Manufacturing Sector 10 20 30 40 10 20 30 40 10 20 30 40 10 20 30 40 1970 1980 1990 2000 1970 1980 1990 2000 1970 1980 1990 2000 1970 1980 1990 2000 1970 1980 1990 2000 Australia Austria Belgium Canada Denmark Finland France Germany Ireland Italy Japan Netherlands New Zealand Norway Sweden Switzerland United Kingdom United States M an uf ac tu rin g YEAR Graphs by COUNTRY docsity.com Class Realignment Argument Moved Left – New middle class (professionals) – New working class (less-skilled office workers) Moved Right – Affluent working class (skilled labour) Stayed Unchanged – Managers (right leaning) – Small business owners (right leaning) – Less-skilled labour (left leaning) Source: Hout, M, et al. 1995. “Democratic Class Struggle in the United States, 1948- 92” American Sociological Review 60:805-28. docsity.com Conclusion Question: Does still class predict voting behaviour? Answer: Both yes and no. • No: Class as Marx depicted it (blue-collar vs. white-collar) is “dead.” • Yes: Class as manifesting in post-industrial societies is still “alive,” but substantially reconfigured. – Voting Left = (knowledge workers, routine blue- and white-collar workers) – Voting Right = (managers, small business owners, and affluent blue-collar workers) docsity.com