Working-class people are less politically active – but new research reveals how to change that

Globally, working-class people are less politically active than other social classes, finds research from NEOMA Business School.

Assistant Professor Bernardo Andretti (NEOMA), alongside co-authors at the University of Oxford and FGV-EBAPE, draws on data from the World Values Survey, analysing over 70,000 people across 47 countries.

The results were unambiguous. In 91% of the countries analysed, people from working-class backgrounds are less politically engaged than people in other social classes, and not a single country showed the opposite trend.

This gap is not limited to voting. The researchers examined 15 forms of political activity, from signing petitions to participating in boycotts, demonstrations, campaign donations, and online mobilisation.

Countries included in the survey are situated in both the Global North and South, and represent different contexts, both in terms of inequality and electoral systems.

The researchers explain that psychological factors are one reason for the persistence of this trend across such diverse political environments. Working-class people consistently feel a low sense of “political efficacy”, the ability to influence public decisions, and this demotivates them to engage with politics.

To test this link further, the researchers ran an experiment in the United States, randomly assigning participants a more or less privileged position in a fictional society.

Those asked to imagine themselves in more precarious positions reported less willingness to get involved in politics, showing that this sense of powerlessness does not depend solely on people’s real living conditions; it also stems from how they perceive their place in society.

While material barriers, such as education and access to institutions, remain key factors in political participation, addressing this psychological factor is also essential to promoting working-class engagement with politics.

And it can be overcome. The researchers observed this in two rounds of surveys conducted in the Maré favela complex in Rio de Janeiro, during and after Brazil’s 2022 presidential election.

Showing residents a short video reminding them that their vote had the power to influence the election outcome and influence political decisions increased the likelihood of them expressing an intention to seek out information to become more politically engaged thereafter.

Amid Brazil’s current presidential elections and the run-up to France’s presidential elections in 2027, the study offers practical insights for citizen mobilisation campaigns, NGOs, and public institutions.

It has been published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology and is available here:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S002210312...

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For more information, or to speak with Bernardo Andretti, contact Jamie Hose at BlueSky Education on jamie@bluesky-pr.com, or call +44 (0)1582 790 706.