Paint it Grey? - Political Parties, the Growing Grey Vote and Policy Positions

Most industrialized democracies face shifts in the age pyramid leading to a growing percentage of older people. This process of demographic change raises fundamental questions concerning the future structure and organization of societies, the sustainability of social security systems and the functioning of political systems. Since the 1990s, potential developments and consequences of an aging (and shrinking) society are an integral part of research agendas in various scientific disciplines (like sociology and economics). Despite this broad academic interest, political scientists have only recently begun to study different aspects of this change in western societies. So far, political science research concentrates on political participation, voting behaviour and the parliamentary representation of senior citizens and questions regarding a potential conflict between generations at the attitudinal level. However, one crucial aspect is still missing. We do not know anything about the effects the societal change has on political parties. In other words, until now it is unclear whether and how these most important intermediary organisations react to the growing grey vote. Do they change their policy positions because of demographic change? Do they particularly try to appeal senior citizens? Do political parties offer programmatic positions that are favourable to win senior citizens’ votes? The paper, firstly, theoretically highlights these questions by offering explanations for changes in political parties’ positions in response to demographic change. Secondly, an instrument for measuring parties’ age orientation in electoral programs is introduced. Finally, the paper presents first empirical results from a longitudinal analysis of national party manifestos (1960s to 2010) on political parties’ age orientation in some European countries.