Contextual Effects of Class Mobility on Voting Behaviour in 16 Western Countries: 1956-1990

In: Bulletin de méthodologie sociologique: BMS, Volume 51, Issue 1, p. 42-63

Abstract

The author tests several hypotheses about the contextual effects of class mobility on the voting behaviour of intergenerationally stable class members. These hypotheses pertain to the effects of levels of outflow from and inflow mobility to a specific social class (in a certain nation and a specific year). The hypotheses are tested by multi-level modelling, and analyzing data on 20.619 respondents from 113 surveys held in sixteen industrialized democratic countries in the period 1956–1990. Despite these efforts, the analyses show no significant contextual effect of either the level of intergenerational inflow or the level of outflow social mobility in a country on the voting behaviour of intergenerationally immobile persons. In the discussion section possible explanations for these negative results are discussed. Multilevel Analyse Voting Behaviour. Social Mobility. Context Effects.