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This paper attempts to understand the phenomenon of so-called 'unnatural' voting (right-wing voting by lower-status groups). Most scholars explain this phenomenon with cultural motives, such as working-class authoritarianism, yet they assume that it contradicts their economic interests and motives. Although my findings corroborate the importance of working-class authoritarianism, I contend that a working-class vote for the right can also be explained by economic attitudes. Drawing on the theory of populism, I will examine the relationship between cultural attitudes (including authoritarianism and ethnocentrism) and economic rightist attitudes concerning social policy and the welfare state. Economic populism is characterised by egalitarianism as well as anti-welfarism. By addressing economic populism, right-wing parties are able to reconcile their discourse with the economic attitudes of lower status groups. The empirical relevance of this hypothesis is tested on the case of Flanders (Belgium).

This paper attempts to understand the phenomenon of so-called 'unnatural' voting (right-wing voting by lower-status groups). Most scholars explain this phenomenon with cultural motives, such as working-class authoritarianism, yet they assume that it contradicts their economic interests and motives. Although my findings corroborate the importance of working-class authoritarianism, I contend that a working-class vote for the right can also be explained by economic attitudes. Drawing on the theory of populism, I will examine the relationship between cultural attitudes (including authoritarianism and ethnocentrism) and economic rightist attitudes concerning social policy and the welfare state. Economic populism is characterised by egalitarianism as well as anti-welfarism. By addressing economic populism, right-wing parties are able to reconcile their discourse with the economic attitudes of lower status groups. The empirical relevance of this hypothesis is tested on the case of Flanders (Belgium). Adapted from the source document.

Abstract.  According to S. M. Lipset, the working classes are authoritarian in the cultural domain, but leftist in the economic domain as the interests of the underprivileged make them inclined to support redistributive politics. These findings have been repeated in an extensive body of research. In our analysis using Flemish (Belgian) data (N =1,577), we examine the economic orientations of the underprivileged, more specifically their attitudes towards social inequality, economic redistribution and welfare state politics. We found that many respondents (especially among the underprivileged) express complaints against social inequality, while at the same time rejecting the arrangements of the welfare state. We argue that it is inappropriate to consider this economic orientation as a specific ideological doctrine. Rather it should be considered as a syndrome that can be labelled 'economic populism'. Economic populism is caused by feelings of social discontent, such as defeatism and political distrust. The methodological and theoretical implications of these findings will be discussed.

Our analysis indicates that it is correct to interpret non-participation and a vote for the Extreme Right as at least partly due to a legitimation crisis which seems to be the expression of a new alignment of values. This alignment describes a deep cultural cleavage that divides the higher from the less educated. People who hold pronounced positions on this alignment are more likely than others to turn away from the established, "traditional" parties. People with the values and attitudes typical of the "progressive" or "new left'' side of the cleavage, vote disproportionately for the Greens. People with the values and attitudes typical of the "conservative" or "new right" side of the cleavage, opt disproportionately for non-participation and for the Extreme Right. In the recent political debate in Flanders, both non-participation and the Extreme Right have been regarded as symptoms of a legitimation crisis, and ofpolitical protest. The difference between the two expressions of cultural opposition or political protest can be understood as a choice for either an "exit" or a "voice" option. People select the "exit" option when they feel especially politically powerless. The "voice"-option is chosen by people for which the value conflict over the position of"migrants" is the most salient issue.The long term causes of the symptoms of a legitimation crisis seem to be the growing economic and cultural gap between the higher and less educated, and the ensuing growth of a conflict in which cultural and social-economic differences are strongly linked.

"Social conflicts and voting patterns in Western nations indicate a gradual erosion of working-class support for the left, a process that class theory itself cannot adequately explain. Farewell to the Leftist Working Class aims to fill this gap by developing, testing, and confirming an alternative explanation of rightist tendencies among the underprivileged. The authors argue that cultural issues revolving around individual liberty and maintenance of social order have become much more significant since World War II.The obligation to work and strict notions of deservingness have become central to the debate about the welfare state. Indeed, although economic egalitarianism is more typically found among the working class, it is only firmly connected to a universalistic and inclusionary progressive political ideology among the middle class.Farewell to the Leftist Working Class reports cutting-edge research into the withering away of working-class support for the left and the welfare state, drawing mostly on survey data collected in Western Europe, the United States, and other Western countries."--Provided by publisher.

"A specter is haunting the long-standing class theory of politics - the specter of the rightist working class. Social conflicts and voting patterns in Western nations indicate a gradual erosion of working-class support for the left, a process that class theory itself cannot adequately explain. Farewell to the Leftist Working Class aims to fill this gap by developing, testing, and confirming an alternative explanation of rightist tendencies among the underprivileged."

This article argues against the individualisation thesis that claims that people have become less dependent on collectively provided cultural materials for the construction of their identities and life courses. It is based on in-depth interviews that were conducted as part of a longitudinal research concerning the effects of long term unemployment on the lives of unemployed men and their children. One of the crucial research questions concerns the cultural materials that are available to cope with unemployment. The findings lead to a rehabilitation of the concept of 'social role', The loss of a job places the unemployed in a socially and culturally ill defined situation. For various reasons unemployment itself does not develop into a role. The article describes the various strategies the unemployed use to cope with this lack of social identity and definition of their situation, All of these strategies underline the importance of collectively held expectations for the construction of personal identity and the life course.