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A Forgotten Middle Class? Perceptions of Representation and the Role of Labour in a Comparative Perspective

Comparative Politics
Political Parties
Representation
Quantitative
Policy-Making
Line Rennwald
Université de Lausanne
Line Rennwald
Université de Lausanne

Abstract

Against the background of a crisis of political representation, this paper studies the perceptions of government responsiveness in advanced democracies. It argues that social class matters and that labour parties and unions are institutions that are the most likely to empower the lower and middle classes. Using ISSP data from 1996 to 2016, it shows that the lower classes perceive the strongest lack of political influence and the upper classes the weakest, while the middle classes are located between the two. However, the paper also shows that some specific segments of the middle classes – the skilled workers and especially the skilled manual workers – perceive a strong lack of political influence. The crisis of political representation is therefore the most pronounced among the lower classes and the skilled manual workers. The article demonstrates further that the role of labour parties and unions is relatively limited. The paper contributes to the literature on unequal representation by exploring systematically the micro-level foundations. It also sheds new light on the debate by introducing class as a critical variable.