Shared Grievance and Alignment? Place and Class Divides in Economic Preferences

• In Event: Grievance, Social Class, and Preferences for Redistribution

Abstract

Previous literature shows that rural voters can turn to the right politically, highlighting conservative cultural attitudes and government dissatisfaction as main drivers of this voting pattern. This article contributes to our understanding the political preferences of rural voters by in stead focusing on their views on state intervention in the economy. Based on a theoretical framework highlighting how structural differences are translated into political differences, this paper argues that rural voters and working class voters share views on state intervention in the economy to a large extent. To test the strength of this alignment, the paper presents a series of empirical studies based on novel survey data administrated in Norway. The results show that these voter groups believe cities and people living there end up with too much resources, and support redistribution - both between people and places. Moreover the results demonstrate that perceptions of unfair distribution of resources to rural areas are strongly connected to grievances over central government handling of rural areas, while grievance over immigration is not a strong predictor. Taken together the results suggest there is potential for parties on the left to build support coalitions that include both rural voters and working class voters founded on preferences on state intervention in the economy along two dimensions, place and class.

Author

• Marta Eidheim, University of Bergen