Shrinking middle class is fuelling support for Europe’s radical right

Hi,

The decline of the middle class across Western Europe is fuelling support for far-right parties across Europe, new research from Vienna University of Economics and Business (WU Wien) has found.

The study has discovered that the fear of falling out of the middle class increases the probability of supporting radical right parties.

Far-right are attracting voters that are insecure about their future economic position in society and disillusioned with mainstream politics, according to Judith Derndorfer of the Chamber of Labour and the Research Institute Economics of Inequality at WU Wien.

This decline of the middle class and rise in votes for the far-right in many Western European countries could be a threat to democracy across the continent.

Drawing on EU-SILC longitudinal data from 13 Western European countries between 2005 and 2018, the study found that economic insecurity, defined as the risk falling out of the middle class differs across occupational groups.

Business owners, skilled and low-skilled workers face substantially higher risks of downward mobility than higher- and lower-grade service workers. This “fear of falling,” even when not realised, has noticeable and measurable effects on political behaviour, pushing anxious middle-class voters towards right-wing populist parties.

Between 2005 and 2018, the share of low-skilled and skilled workers in the middle class across Western Europe fell by 8.9 and 6 percentage points respectively, reflecting that it has become more difficult for these occupational groups to belong to the middle class.

“This erosion of social standing,” says Dr. Derndorfer, “feeds status anxiety and resentment toward political elites and minorities, which are all conditions under which the radical right thrives.”

“Welfare regimes shape levels of economic insecurity, with social-democratic states displaying the lowest risk,” adds Dr. Derndorfer, “while Mediterranean and liberal welfare states show the highest, with corporatist states in between.”

The study was published in the journal Review of Income and Wealth.

/ENDS

For more information, a copy of the report, or to speak to the researcher, contact Thomas Willis at BlueSky Education on thomas@bluesky-pr.com or call +44 (0)1582 790 706.