What Class, What Vote? Post-Fordist Social Groups, Class Coalitions and the Mainstream Left

Abstract

This article investigates the electoral behavior of post-Fordist social classes between the beginning of the 2000s and the end of the 2010s in eight Western countries, focusing particularly on the vote for the mainstream Left. More specifically, the work answers three research questions. How has social stratification changed in the countries analyzed? How have the post-Fordist social groups voted in the last two decades, and how has their support for the Left changed? What kinds of class coalitions supporting Left parties have now emerged, and how stable are they? The empirical analysis shows that the electoral behavior of post-Fordist social groups varies considerably according to the welfare regime considered. The comparative analysis also points out that Left-wing parties have taken different paths in response to the change of social stratification.