Class - Kitschelt - Class

Question 1

What 3 facets of peoples market experience are likely to impinge on their political dispositions?

Answer 1

1. Whether they derive income from INTEREST AND PROFITS or WAGES
2. Where the source of income is in the PRIVATE OR PUBLIC sector.
3. where their source of income is in the INTERNATIONALLY COMPETIVE or DOMESTIC part of the economy

Question 2

What does Kitschelt suggest public and private sector workers will desire as economic strategies from the govt?

Answer 2

1. Public: less worries about profit etc so may prefer redistributive policies
2. Private: withdraw from supporting further expansion of welfare state and want reduced taxation

Question 3

How does Kitschelt believe the LW parties have shifted in Europe in the post-war era?

Answer 3

From an exclusively socialist agenda to a more libertarian/socialist agenda

Question 4

How does Kitschelt believe the RW parties of EUR have shifted in the post-war era?

Answer 4

From Capitalist politics exclusively to a capitalist/authoritarian mix

Question 5

Where does Kitchelt believe traditional LW policies will remain popular?

Answer 5

In Industries which are PROTECTED from Intl competition.

Question 6

What hypothesis suggests that socialist parties primarily represent the blue-collar working class?

Answer 6

The NAIVE hypothesis. This is obviously a shrinking class in western countries so the socialist parties are losing support.

Question 7

Which two countries show some signs of following the naive hypothesis?

Answer 7

Austria and Britain

Elsewhere a declining blue-collar workforce does not appear to lead to a corresponding reduction in socialist party support (Kitschelt)

Question 8

Who wrote the book “Paper Stones”

Answer 8

PRZEWORSKI and SPRAGUE

Question 9

What are the 5 prepositions of paper stones?

Answer 9

1. A decision to enter elections rather than engage in REVOLUTIONARY struggles undercuts class formation.
2. Compelled to appeal to NON-WORKING CLASS as the working class are a MINORITY
3. Socialists can not appeal to allies on class so resort to CROSS-CLASS APPEALS.
4. Whether workers have easy opportunities to opt out of the SOCIALIST BLOC.
5. Once committed to the above, they become PRISONERS to their past strategic choices

Question 10

What socialist parties do Przeworski and Sprague believe have the greatest ability to fight electoral decline?

Answer 10

Those with:

• close ties to centralised labour unions
• No communist or culturally based party competitors

Question 11

Why does Kitschelt challenge P&S on where the socialist parties have beaten electoral decline?

Answer 11

Kitschelt believes that they have been more successful where:

• able to exploit a declining communist party
• There are weak labour unions
• They package their appeals in a more complex way than just on class and economic redistribution.

Question 12

What does Kitschelt say about the trade-off that socialist parties make?

Answer 12

There is no trade-off between blue-collar workers and white-collar allies.
There are no exclusive policies, rather full employment and a welfare state have a broader appeal

Question 13

Why does Kitschelt believe that socialist parties would benefit from moving away from exclusive working-class support?

Answer 13

This would put them into a more LIBERTARIAN area that attracts workers in the client-interactive jobs.