A Decline in the Social Status of the Working Class? Conflicting Evidence for 8 Western Countries, 1987–2017

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Serval ID
serval:BIB_A3470AE9E74B
Type
Article: article from journal or magazin.
Collection
Publications
Institution
Title
A Decline in the Social Status of the Working Class? Conflicting Evidence for 8 Western Countries, 1987–2017
Journal
Comparative Political Studies
Author(s)
Oesch Daniel, Vigna Nathalie
ISSN
0010-4140
1552-3829
Publication state
Published
Issued date
02/12/2021
Peer-reviewed
Oui
Pages
1-28
Language
english
Abstract
The consensus view among political scientists is that the subjective social status of low-skilled workers has declined over the last decades, and this status loss of the working class is seen as contributing to the rise of the radical right. We examine the micro-foundation of this claim by tracing the evolution of subjective status for different social classes in Europe and the US. We use all available survey rounds of the International Social Survey Programme 1987–2017 and replicate findings with the European Social Survey 2002–2016. While unskilled workers perceive their status to be lower than members of the middle class everywhere, we find no relative or absolute fall in their subjective social status over time. Unskilled workers were at the bottom of the status hierarchy in the 1990s and 2010s. Our findings throw doubt on the narrative that sees workers’ falling subjective social status as a prominent driver behind the rise of the radical right.
Keywords
Sociology and Political Science
Funding(s)
Swiss National Science Foundation / 51NF40-185901
Create date
06/12/2021 11:20
Last modification date
07/12/2021 7:12
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