DEMOCRATIC CLASS STRUGGLE IN TWENTY COUNTRIES 1945/1990

It is well known that people's class position affects their voting behaviour. This 'democratic class struggle' occurs in all Western industrialized democracies. However, the strength of the relationship between class and voting behaviour differs from country to country, and in many the strength of that relationship has declined. This study analyses the levels of class voting in the various Western industrialised countries in the postwar period.

In addition, it tests three specific explanations for variations in these levels between countries and periods of time. Moreover, attention is paid to the relationship between intergenerational class mobility and individual voting behaviour in these countries. For this purpose a large number of data on twenty western industrialised nations were collected and analysed.