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The Case for Increased Working Class representation: A study of Swedish Working class attitude change from 2002-2021

Lekberg, Olle LU (2024) STVM25 20241
Department of Political Science
Abstract
This paper studies Swedish working class economic and cultural attitudes from 2002 to 2021 in order to discern whether increased radical right support has led to attitude change, and whether or not these changes complicate working class representation. The results suggest that whilst the working class has become slightly more left-leaning in its economical attitudes, cultural attitudes have become increasingly similar to those of the radical right. By including a variable for economic marginalisation, I find support for economic hardship being a contributing factor for increased radical right sentiment and inclination to vote for the Sweden Democrats. Through a Marxian conceptualisation of interests, this thesis concludes that increased... (More)
This paper studies Swedish working class economic and cultural attitudes from 2002 to 2021 in order to discern whether increased radical right support has led to attitude change, and whether or not these changes complicate working class representation. The results suggest that whilst the working class has become slightly more left-leaning in its economical attitudes, cultural attitudes have become increasingly similar to those of the radical right. By including a variable for economic marginalisation, I find support for economic hardship being a contributing factor for increased radical right sentiment and inclination to vote for the Sweden Democrats. Through a Marxian conceptualisation of interests, this thesis concludes that increased representation of working class interests is desirable, but that the Sweden Democrats do not represent the substantive interests of the working class. This thesis contributes to the continuing study and understanding of new cleavages in Western European politics and how they affect party preferences among voters. (Less)
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author
Lekberg, Olle LU
supervisor
organization
course
STVM25 20241
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
Working class, socioeconomic preferences, sociocultural preferences, descriptive representation, substantive representation, radical right parties
language
English
id
9152229
date added to LUP
2024-07-18 14:02:00
date last changed
2024-07-18 14:02:00
@misc{9152229,
  abstract     = {{This paper studies Swedish working class economic and cultural attitudes from 2002 to 2021 in order to discern whether increased radical right support has led to attitude change, and whether or not these changes complicate working class representation. The results suggest that whilst the working class has become slightly more left-leaning in its economical attitudes, cultural attitudes have become increasingly similar to those of the radical right. By including a variable for economic marginalisation, I find support for economic hardship being a contributing factor for increased radical right sentiment and inclination to vote for the Sweden Democrats. Through a Marxian conceptualisation of interests, this thesis concludes that increased representation of working class interests is desirable, but that the Sweden Democrats do not represent the substantive interests of the working class. This thesis contributes to the continuing study and understanding of new cleavages in Western European politics and how they affect party preferences among voters.}},
  author       = {{Lekberg, Olle}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{The Case for Increased Working Class representation: A study of Swedish Working class attitude change from 2002-2021}},
  year         = {{2024}},
}