Work

Shared Class, Shared Opinion? Policy Preference Congruence Between Citizens and Legislators

Year: 2024

Type: article

Abstract: Recent studies have shown that policymakers and policy outcomes in advanced democracies are biased against the preferences of less affluent and working‐class citizens. One reason for this inequality in substantive representation might be that most policymakers are well‐off themselves. In this paper, we explore the effect of shared class background on the congruence between legislators' and citizens' policy preferences. To do so, we rely on original data from surveys conducted among citizens and active legislators in Switzerland. We focus on six economic and welfare policy proposals where we find differences in opinion between social classes. When we match legislators' and citizens' opinion in a one‐to‐many relationship, we find that social class matters more for lower social classes than for the more affluent, at least for some policy proposals.

Source: Swiss Political Science Review

DOI: 10.1111/spsr.12637

Authors: Reto Wüest, Luzia Helfer, Frédéric Varone

Institutions: Coop Norge (Norway), The Swiss Parliament, University of Geneva

Language: English

Topic: Electoral Systems and Political Participation

Subfield: Political Science and International Relations

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Reduced inequalities

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,140