The Effects of Social Class Identification on Participatory Orientations Towards Government
By: WALSH, Katherine Cramer; JENNINGS, M. Kent; STOKER, Laura
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ArticlePublisher: Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, July 2004British Journal of Political Science 34, 3, p. 469-495Abstract: This article calls into question the common claim that class identity does not matter for American political behavior. Using panel-study data spaning thirty-two years and two generations, we investigate the effects of social-class identity on five participatory orientations towards government. As expected, working-class identifiers in both generations consistently display lower levels of involvement in politics than do middle-class identifiers. Significantly, however, these differences typically persist when the analysis controls for objective indicators of class and are always enhanced among those who retain the same class identity over time. rather than sustaining a conclusion that class identification has little relevance for Americans, the results suggest that class may be particularly important in the present political context
This article calls into question the common claim that class identity does not matter for American political behavior. Using panel-study data spaning thirty-two years and two generations, we investigate the effects of social-class identity on five participatory orientations towards government. As expected, working-class identifiers in both generations consistently display lower levels of involvement in politics than do middle-class identifiers. Significantly, however, these differences typically persist when the analysis controls for objective indicators of class and are always enhanced among those who retain the same class identity over time. rather than sustaining a conclusion that class identification has little relevance for Americans, the results suggest that class may be particularly important in the present political context
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