SOCIALE HERKOMST EN POLITIEKE RECRUTERING VAN NEDERLANDSE KAMERLEDEN IN 1968 - I
In: Acta politica: AP ; international journal of political science ; official journal of the Dutch Political Science Association (Nederlandse Kring voor Wetenschap der Politiek), Band 5, Heft 3, S. 292-333
ISSN: 0001-6810
Using data on fathers & parental grandfathers from a largescale survey held among all members of either House of the Dutch Parliament sitting in 1968, the soc background of members of Parliament is traced both re occup & soc stratification. The data show very little stability over 3 generations in occup'al background, & considerable verticle mobility. For the larger parties & for the 2 Houses as a whole, an index is constructed showing the average ranking of fathers & grandfathers on a prestige status scale. It appears that members of the Lower House come from higher soc milieus as measured by the ranking of fathers than members of the Upper House. This is particularly true of socialist members in the Lower House who score higher than either socialist Upper House members, or Lower House members of the 2 larger religious parties. Extensive data on the denomination of parents, grandparents & husbands or wives of members allow some insight into the extent to which traditional religious cleavage lines continue to determine pol'al recruitment. A diagram is presented to show the degree of traditional congruence between pol'al choice & religious denomination (or sub-denomination) & the extent to which 2 new anti-system parties (Democrats '66 & Farmer's Party) have successfully challenged the traditional divisions. On the whole, the close alignment between religious adherence & pol'al choice persists, both when measured by formal church association & actual church attendance. But liberals come from circles which are more traditionally identified with secular poi than members of the socialist party. In the latter case, the pot of 'breaking through' traditional religious boundaries materialized in some deliberate recruitment of orthodox-Protestant & Catholic members. But the traditional left-right division remains evident even when measured by the faith of parents & grandparents; a process of secularization is more characteristic for members of the non-confessional parties than a deliberate crossing of traditional pol'al boundaries by Catholics or orthodox-Protestants. IPSA.