Contemporary European Citizens’ Conceptions of Democracy: Social Class Differences Across Values

Research on democratic attitudes has shown that citizens differ systematically in their understandings of what democracy means. However, the mechanisms explaining why these conceptions vary across social classes remain insufficiently understood. Existing studies document class gradients in support for different democratic principles, but they rarely incorporate a theoretical account of how class-linked psychological orientations shape these preferences. In this article, I argue that social class influences democratic conceptions through its effects on basic human values. Drawing on Schwartz’s value theory, I use cultural and material values dimensions. I propose that class positions generate distinct experiences of autonomy, security, and existential anxiety, which foster value profiles that underpin citizens’ preferred visions of democracy. Empirically, I analyse data from ESS Round 10 (2020) across 30 European countries and operationalize democratic conceptions using the ESS “views of democracy” dimensions: liberal, social-democratic, direct, populist, and multilevel. I estimate models that link social class to these democratic models via the value dimensions. The findings show that value orientations substantially mediate class differences in democratic understandings, indicating that conceptions of democracy are not merely institutional preferences, but value-infused interpretations rooted in the stratification structure of European societies. The results show that cultural values channel similar motivational orientations into distinct democratic models depending on social class. Among upper and middle classes, conservation values associated with self-protection and anxiety, such as security and tradition, are linked to stronger support for institutionally complex forms of democracy, particularly multilevel, while also sustaining support for populist, social, and direct models. Conformity in these classes further reinforces support for liberal democracy. Among skilled and unskilled workers, tradition is associated with greater support for social model, while security channels support toward social and populist models. Small owners, in contrast, translate values of tradition and security into more consistently direct, populist, and multilevel conceptions of democracy. Self-transcendence values further differentiate class-based interpretations: in the upper class, universalism is associated with social democracy, and benevolence with direct democracy; in the middle class, universalism relates to direct democracy and benevolence to multilevel democracy; among skilled workers, benevolence is linked to direct democracy, whereas among unskilled workers, universalism is linked to social democracy. Along the material dimension, egalitarian orientations push upper, middle, and small-owner classes toward social, direct, and populist models, while among unskilled workers equality is primarily linked to liberal democracy. Thus, the results show how social classes, through the values they prioritize, express distinct democratic expectations, revealing a class-level mechanism by which social stratification shapes differing conceptions of democracy, a process central to understanding democratic legitimacy and stability in advanced European societies.