Electoral cleavages and socioeconomic inequality in Germany, 1949-2017
In this paper, Fabian Kosse and Thomas Piketty explore the changing relationships between party support, electoral cleavages and socioeconomic inequality in Germany since 1949. They analyze the link between voting behaviors and socioeconomic characteristics of voters. In the 1950s-1970s, the vote for left parties was strongly associated with lower education and lower income voters. Since the 1980s, voting for left parties has become associated with higher education voters. In effect, intellectual and economic elites seem to have drifted apart, with high-education elites voting for the left and high-income elites voting for the right. The authors analyze how this process is related to the occurrence of new parties since 1980 and the recent rise of populism.
Key results
- The development of the education cleavages in Germany seems to have followed similar patterns as in most Western democracies.
- A phenomenon strongly influencing the German party system was the emergence and establishment of a green party in the form of Die Grünen, later B90/Grüne. This broadening of the left spectrum was associated with a slight increase in the joint share of left votes and was accompanied by a pronounced shift of the education cleavages in the 1980s.
- In line with France, the US and the UK, intellectual and economic elites seem to have drifted apart in Germany, with high-education elites voting for the left and high-income elites voting for the right.
>> Click here to read the paper
Figure – Electoral cleavages and socioeconomic inequality in Germany
This figure reads as follows: In the 1950’s, left parties jointly obtain a score that is 21 points lower among top 10% education voters; in the 2010s, their score is 6 points higher among top 10% education voters.
Contacts
Authors
Fabian Kosse (LMU): fabian.kosse@econ.lmu.de
Thomas Piketty (EHESS, PSE, WIL): thomas.piketty@psemail.eu
Media inquiries
Olivia Ronsain: olivia.ronsain@wid.world; +33 7 63 91 81 68
