Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-8mjnm Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-29T15:19:07.800Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The Effects of Social Class Identification on Participatory Orientations Towards Government

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 June 2004

KATHERINE CRAMER WALSH
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, University of Wisconsin-Madison
M. KENT JENNINGS
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, University of California, Santa Barbara
LAURA STOKER
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, University of California, Berkeley

Abstract

This article calls into question the common claim that class identity does not matter for American political behaviour. Using panel-study data spanning thirty-two years and two generations, we investigate the effects of social-class identity on five participatory orientations towards government. As expected, working-class identifiers in both generations consistently display lower levels of involvement in politics than do middle-class identifiers. Significantly, however, these differences typically persist when the analysis controls for objective indicators of class and are always enhanced among those who retain the same class identity over time. Rather than sustaining a conclusion that class identification has little relevance for Americans, the results suggest that class may be particularly important in the present political context.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 2004 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)