Polarity Reversal: The Socioeconomic Reconfiguration of Partisan Support in Knowledge Societies

This article proposes a framework to analyze realignment processes in countries that transition from industrial to knowledge societies. It characterizes the electorate in terms of two traits that are main predictors for attitudes in a two-dimensional policy space of economic and noneconomic issues:...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inPolitics & society Vol. 51; no. 4; pp. 520 - 566
Main Authors Kitschelt, Herbert P., Rehm, Philipp
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01.12.2023
SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
Subjects
Behavior modification
International comparisons
Low income groups
Realignment
Voter behavior
Voters
politics in knowledge societies
polarization
electoral competition
partisan realignment
partisan dealignment
polarity reversal
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Summary:This article proposes a framework to analyze realignment processes in countries that transition from industrial to knowledge societies. It characterizes the electorate in terms of two traits that are main predictors for attitudes in a two-dimensional policy space of economic and noneconomic issues: income (low vs. high) and education (low vs. high). The framework divides the electorate into four groups—based on the interaction of these two dichotomized traits—and predicts how and when the voting propensities of these four groups change over time. Using a wide variety of data sources, the article tests hypotheses regarding changing voting behavior of education-income groups, as well as cross-national differences across twenty-one rich democracies.
ISSN:0032-3292
1552-7514
DOI:10.1177/00323292221100220