Time: Friday, April 25, 2025, at 10:00 AM

Location: Hörsal 3, Södra Huset B, 3rd floor, Universitetsvägen 10 B

Opponent: Mikael Hjerm (Umeå University)

Read the dissertation Essays on the Links Between Vertical and Horizontal Social Stratification, Political Attitudes, and Radical Right Support: Evidence from Sweden and Europé.

Abstract

This dissertation investigates the links between vertical and horizontal social stratification, political attitudes, and radical right support. It focuses on how individual sociodemographic attributes interact in forming radical right support, how grievances mediate support for different groups, and how horizontal and vertical dimensions of education and occupation shape radical right support and political attitudes.

Study I explores how gender, class, education, rural/urban residence, age, native/non-native background, and income interact to shape radical right support, using the Swedish Society-Opinion-Media (SOM) Survey (2015–2021). The results reveal that age is the most influential moderating factor, with educational and rural-urban political divides being much stronger among younger generations. Thus, there are stronger links between one´s position in the social structure and the probability of supporting the radical right among the younger generations. A replication with the European Social Survey (ESS) shows these results are generalizable to other Western European countries. Additionally, the study found some distinct pathways to radical right support across sociodemographic groups, with cultural threat perceptions driving support among particularly low-educated individuals, while crime concerns are a stronger driver among older individuals. However, contrary to common theoretical expectations, economic concerns do not disproportionately drive the socio-economically vulnerable toward the radical right.

Study II examines the links between horizontal aspects of education, political attitudes, and radical right support, using the SOM Survey 2011–2019, the ESS 2008, and the Swedish Level of Living Survey (LNU) 2000, 2010, and 2021. The study finds that support for the radical right varies significantly across fields of study, with graduates from sociocultural fields exhibiting substantially lower support than those from technical or agricultural fields. Analyses with panel data and comparisons of students who have spent different years in their respective fields of study in upper secondary school further suggest that sociocultural education is more liberalizing than education in other fields. These differences are partially mediated by horizontal, but not vertical, labor market allocation. On theoretical grounds, the study suggests that these patterns are likely partially explained by stronger political socialization into liberal-democratic values in sociocultural education.

Study III investigates the links between horizontal aspects of occupations and political
attitudes. It evaluates the theoretical foundations of the Oesch class schema, which
categorizes occupations based on vertical aspects (occupational skill content) and horizontally distinguished work logics. Using cross-sectional and panel data from the LNU survey 2010 and 2021, the study finds that technical object-oriented tasks are linked to cultural authoritarianism, partially explaining production workers’ authoritarian inclination. However, other key aspects of the schema´s links to political attitudes require theoretical reconsideration, as interpersonal tasks are not linked to cultural libertarianism, and increased managerial tasks are instead linked to more economic leftist views. The study proposes that the horizontal classification of occupational groups should be refined based on educational field requirements rather than subjective assessments of work logic.