Class Voting and Left Voting in Scandinavia: The Impact of Different Operationalizations of the Working Class

In: European journal of political research: official journal of the European Consortium for Political Research, Band 15, Heft 5, S. 507-526

Abstract

An examination of the effects of different definitions of the Wc on the measurement of class voting & left voting in Denmark, Norway, & Sweden. The operationalization of the Wc in the three countries is compared, & Swedish election survey data are recoded to conform more closely to the classification procedures used in Danish & Norwegian studies. The analysis shows that if a similar operationalization is used, the level of Left voting in both the Swedish Wcs & Mcs increases & the Alford index of class voting (see SA 14:5/66C1227) declines. Class voting & Left voting in the younger & older generations & among women & men are also discussed. It is concluded that dissimilar patterns of class voting & Left voting among women in the three countries are largely a product of different classification schemes. Problems in using the Alford index as a summary statistic in cross-national comparisons are identified. 7 Tables, 2 Figures, 32 References. Modified HA