Who represents the working-class? Introducing and implementing a life-course approach to the study of class representation

Social scientists and the public agree that it matters who political decision-makers are. Yet, while the representation of some groups (e.g., women and ethnic minorities) has attracted a lot of scholarly attention, the representation of social classes has been studied much less. The scant evidence that exists points to a severe underrepresentation of working-class voters, yet this research is beset by a key conceptual problem: People move between classes during their life course (much more so than between genders and ethnic groups). Therefore, conceptualizing the representation of different social classes becomes theoretically and empirically highly demanding. We address this challenge first, by theorizing the implications of a dynamic understanding of class over the life-course, and second, by collecting highly granular data on the class origins and occupational trajectories of several thousand ministers in post-war European democracies. We are therefore able to present the most conceptually advanced and empirically comprehensive account to date of the representation of social classes in European governments since 1945.