Recent accounts of class conflict have focused on the partisan realignment of industrial production workers and socio-cultural professionals. Yet, we know little about the political preferences of low-skilled service workers, even if service occupations are among the few to have grown in the low-skilled sector. This paper analyzes the differences between production and service workers in their cultural and economic preferences, and how these depend on the politicization of these issues by political parties. The hierarchical analyses combining data from the European Social Survey and the Chapel Hill Expert Survey indicate that, even if the politicization of issues by parties intensifies class conflict, production and service workers always remain a homogeneous electoral constituency. In spite of strong differences in their socio-demographic composition and the work environments they are embedded in, these two classes display similar preferences, and are located on the economic left-wing but culturally authoritarian pole.
The moderating role of the partisan supply and the similarities among workers have important implications for parties’ strategies. On issues scarcely politicized by parties, differences in issue preferences across classes are small, making cross-class coalitions more likely. On the contrary, class conflict is strong under high issue politicization, particularly on the topic of immigration. Even if socio-cultural professionals are close to workers in their economic preferences, it is unlikely that parties can forge an electoral coalition between workers (production or service) and professionals when cultural issues are highly politicized. While cross-class coalitions are likely only under specific configurations of the supply side, production and service workers always remain a viable and homogenous electoral coalition, even in countries where economic and cultural issues are highly politicized. This advocates for the continuing relevance of the working class in post-industrial societies, and highlights the crucial role of parties in shaping class conflict.
