The Two Lefts? Occupation and Party Choice in France, Italy, and the Netherlands

It has recently been argued that class divisions in politics are being altered by the emergence of conflicts over nonmaterial issues. Since the main support for the new ("postmaterialist") left is in the midle class, segments of the middle class are attracted to the left, while more traditionalist working-class voters move to the right. This paper uses long-linear association models to test this argument, examining occupation and party choice in France, Italy, and the Netherlands from 1973 to 1985. While there is evidence of a post materialist dimension, its importance is generally stable across time and cohorts. The conclusions still hold when education is taken into account. Recent political developments are better understood as a general shift in attitudes among all classes than as a change in the relative importance of different class divisions.