Class and ideology in Spain: Patterns of differentiation and patterns of change

Authors

  • Lucía Medina
  • Miguel Caínzos

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18042/cepc/rep.181.04

Keywords:

Social class, political change, class and politics, ideology, political preferences, left-right, self-placement, alignments, cleavages.

Abstract

The aim of this article is to study changes in class patterns of ideological differentiation in Spain. We do this in three steps, using for that purpose ten general election surveys and more than 200 opinion polls taken from the Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas database. Firstly, we depict the evolution of the ideological self-placement of members of different occupational classes during the last three decades; we identify changes that, in spite of their modest magnitude, imply a qualitative alteration of the formerly prevailing pattern of ideological differentiation. Secondly, we show that these changes are not simply a by-product of the makeover of the socio-demographic, educational and sector composition of classes. Finally, we try to find out whether the observed changes are due to a process of generational replacement, finding this to be so only in part. We close the article outlining three possible explanations that should be tested in future research.

Issue

Section

ARTICLES