BRINGING CLASS (BACK) IN: METHODOLOGICAL REFLECTIONS ON SOCIAL CLASS AND REPRESENTATION

Abstract

Research on the political representation of socially disadvantaged groups has strongly focused on women and ethnic minorities while social classes have been underexposed. There are some good reasons for this: the declining relevance of class in modern society, the incorporation of class interests in political parties and the way researchers have been struggling with operationalising the social class of parliamentarians. In this article, we will try to answer these objections and will demonstrate a method to overcome the methodological difficulties.