The electoral appeal of symbolic class signalling through cultural consumption

Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

Authors

This letter investigates the electoral effects of symbolic class signalling through ‘cultural consumption’ in contemporary politics. We explore how politicians referring to an activity related to class-specific ‘cultural consumption’ – drinking beer in a pub or listening to classical music with a glass of wine – appeals to voters. We argue that symbolic class signalling has gained in importance due to the political realignment along the cultural dimension, and we expect radical right parties to benefit most from it. Our conjoint survey experiment with 1,550 respondents in Switzerland in January/February 2023 confirms our expectation. While many voters are biased against politicians claiming to enjoy classical music and wine, politicians drinking beer in a pub appeal particularly to radical right working-class voters without tertiary education. These findings contribute to our understanding of the role of symbolic politics and class identity in times of political transformation.
Original languageEnglish
Article numbere90
JournalBritish Journal of Political Science
Volume55
Number of pages12
ISSN0007-1234
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 11.07.2025

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press.

    Research areas

  • candidate choice, conjoint survey experiment, cultural consumption, radical right parties, symbolic class signalling
  • Politics

Recently viewed

Publications

  1. Water-related problématiques
  2. Advancing Sustainability and Productivity
  3. Slowing resource loops in the clothing industry through Circular Business Model Experimentation
  4. The Discourse Community of Electronic Dance Music through the Example of the TB-303 Owners Club
  5. Online-counseling for teachers via internet forum - A comparative study between norwegian and german users
  6. Preferences and predictors for ecologically responsible behavior of vacationers
  7. Understanding cultural variation in cognition one child at a time
  8. Organizational identity and its applications
  9. Metaphors and metonymies and their impact in mathematical classroom discourses
  10. Imagining is Not Observing
  11. Scaffolding im Rahmen von Inquiry-based Learning.
  12. Firm size and job creation in Germany
  13. Konstanz im Wandel?
  14. Was Grundschulkinder über das Textschreiben wissen
  15. Thinking Beyond the Bargaining Table
  16. Start-up activities, individual characteristics, and the regional milieu: Lessons for entrepreneurship support policies from German micro data
  17. Zur Mikrostruktur der Investitionsdynamik in der Industrie
  18. Zur Rolle der Davidsverheißung bei Josephus Flavius
  19. A sticky affair
  20. Informationsversorgung eines erweiterten Umweltcontrollings
  21. How do refugees use their social capital for successful labor market integration?
  22. Gene flow across large distances in the cavity-nesting wasp Deuteragenia subintermedia in a central European forest
  23. Disentangling Puzzles of Spatial Scales and Participation in Environmental Governance
  24. Basic investigations in incremental profile forming