A life course approach to political preference formation across social classes

While we have recently witnessed a resurrection of social class as an important factor articulating political conflict in Western democracies -- showing a stark division between the political preferences of an economically left-wing but culturally authoritarian working class, and an increasingly culturally liberal new middle class -- scholars have not been able to identify the underlying mechanism that leads to such differences between social classes. Therefore, we study how the class conflict in political preferences is crystallized throughout individuals’ life trajectories by distinguishing three crucial stages of political socialization over the life course: in the family context, during post-secondary education, and on the job. These distinctions allow us to adjudicate the stage(s) at which class differences in political preferences become more marked and consolidated. Are they a direct consequence of individuals’ economic prospects and daily experiences on the job? Or are divergences in class preferences a mere consequence of citizens self-selecting into occupations (and hence into class location) based on socialization through earlier formative experiences? In this paper, we perform longitudinal analyses using UK and Swiss panel data to study these questions using measures of socioeconomic and sociocultural issue positions. In our first set of analyses, we focus particularly on the impact of socialization in the job and entrance into a class location. We do not find general support for such effects, as class differences in issue positions are often at least as large prior to entering occupation. This research advances current and historical debates about social class and occupation as relevant milieus of political socialization and public opinion formation. It has important implications for the polarization of the class cleavage. If class preferences are primarily the result of self-selection based on earlier formative experiences, the politicization of the class conflict might lead to a reinforcement of this selection process, thereby contributing to further polarization.