21
views
0
recommends
+1 Recommend
0 collections
    0
    shares
      • Record: found
      • Abstract: found
      • Article: not found

      Political Realignment in Advanced Industrial Society: From Class‐Based Politics to Quality‐of‐Life Politics

      ,
      Government and Opposition
      Wiley-Blackwell

      Read this article at

      ScienceOpenPublisher
      Bookmark
          There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.

          Abstract

          Throughout this century, the Marxist Left in Europe has emphasized an economic interpretation of history, with state ownership of the means of production as the key element in their prescription for society. Political polarization is depicted as a direct reflection of social class conflict, with the working class the natural base of support for the Left. This diagnosis has become increasingly out of touch with reality in recent years, which have seen the decline of orthodox Marxist parties in Western Europe and the diminishing credibility of the ideology on which they are based. For as advanced industrial society emerges, economic determinism provides a progressively less adequate analysis of society, and class-based parties and the policies they advocate become less central to politics. Economic development reduces the impact of economic determinism. Though economic factors tend to play a dominant role in the early stages of industrial society, in advanced industrial society their relative importance diminishes; and self-expression, ‘belonging’ and the quality of the physical and social environment become increasingly important.

          Related collections

          Author and article information

          Journal
          applab
          Government and Opposition
          Gov. & oppos.
          Wiley-Blackwell
          0017-257X
          1477-7053
          October 01 1986
          March 28 2014
          : 21
          : 04
          : 456-479
          Article
          10.1111/j.1477-7053.1986.tb00032.x
          f2d14ab6-6dce-4445-936f-16f8a1434642
          © 1986
          History

          Comments

          Comment on this article