Occupational Segregation and Spatial Inequalities in Support for Right-Wing Populist Parties. Drawing on Three Decades of Data from the Socio-Economic Panel (1992–2022)

This study examines support for right-wing populist parties in rural and urban Germany through the lens of citizenship. It argues that the decline of the working class, combined with its spatial concentration in rural areas, has contributed to unequal experiences of social and political citizenship and, in turn, to rising support for right-wing populist parties. The economic transformation towards a knowledge-based society has led to the social and political marginalisation of the working class, which increasingly perceives urban, cosmopolitan elites as dominating political decision-making and threatening its status, recognition, and sense of belonging as full citizens. Empirical analyses based on German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) data from 1992 to 2022 show that the share of the working class has declined in both rural and urban contexts, albeit to a lesser extent in rural areas. Over the same period, support for right-wing populist parties increased markedly in rural areas. However, this urban–rural divide in political behaviour cannot be fully explained by differences in occupational class composition or class-specific political preferences. Even when controlling for class and sociodemographic characteristics, substantial spatial differences persist, suggesting that regional contexts shape citizens’ political orientations and experiences of citizenship independently of individual characteristics.