Class Consciousness and Politics in Comparative Perspective

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Mann′s typology of class consciousness is the point of departure for an examination of the relationship between class consciousness and political attitudes in the United States and Sweden. Results from a Rasch latent trait analysis demonstrate that American workers are more class conscious than other citizens. Slight increases in the class consciousness of American workers in the 1980s cast doubt on claims about the decline of working-class consciousness in postindustrial society. Class consciousness in Sweden in 1980 is, however, still much higher than working-class consciousness in the United States in either 1980 or 1991. Whereas Swedish workers make connections between questions about class and questions about politics, American workers fail to make these inferences. Class consciousness among contemporary American workers is best conceptualized as a stable, but centrist phenomenon with few connections to other political attitudes.