Clift, Ben. (2001) Social democracy in the 21st century: still a class act? The place of class in Jospinism and Blairism. Journal of Contemporary European Studies , Vol.9 (No.2). pp. 191-215. ISSN 1478-2790

Preview

PDF WRAP_Clift_0370082-150709-class.pdf - Requires a PDF viewer such as GSview, Xpdf or Adobe Acrobat Reader Download (218Kb)

Abstract

This article explores the enduring relevance (or otherwise) of class to social democracy through comparative analysis of the British Labour Party and the French Socialist Party (PS - Parti Socialiste ) at the beginning of the 21st century. It first considers the elite-level conception of class, and perceptions of its place within each party's identity and political economy. The second section explores the importance of class to electoral strategy. Significant differences emerge in the importance attached to class by each party. New Labour has expunged class from its analysis of the economy and the electorate, but paradoxically owes its success to a cross-class electoral alliance. Conversely, the PS now seems firmly camped on social democratic territory it until recently shunned, retaining an emphasis on class, yet its cross-class electoral alliance appears more fragile, given the context of party competition in France. Both parties, however, illustrate the increasingly uncertain relationship between class and post-golden age social democracy.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Subjects:	D History General and Old World > DC France D History General and Old World > DA Great Britain
Divisions:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Politics and International Studies
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Blair, Tony, 1953-, Jospin, Lionel, Socialism -- Great Britain -- 21st century, Socialism -- France -- 21st century, Social classes, Great Britain -- Politics and government -- 1997-, France -- Politics and government -- 1995-2007
Journal or Publication Title:	Journal of Contemporary European Studies
Publisher:	Routledge
ISSN:	1478-2790
Date:	November 2001
Volume:	Vol.9
Number:	No.2
Page Range:	pp. 191-215
Identification Number:	10.1080/14608460120106245
Status:	Peer Reviewed
Access rights to Published version:	Open Access
References:	* 2. Geoffrey Evans. "Class Voting: From Premature Obituary to Reasoned Appraisal", in: G. Evans (ed.), The End of Class Politics? Oxford 1999. p. 8. * 3. Robert Erikson and John Goldthorpe. The constant flux: a study of class mobility in industrial societies. Oxford 1992, p. 37: emphasis in original. * 4. Ibid, p. 10. * 6. Henry Drucker, Doctrine and Ethos in the Labour Party, London 1979, pp. 9-21 and p. 25. * 8. Lewis Minkin, The Contentious Alliance: Trade Unions and the Labour Party, Edinburgh 1991, p. 4. * 9. Steve Ludlam, "New Labour and the Unions: the End of the Contentious Alliance?', in S. Ludlam and M. Smith (eds.), New Labour in Government, Basingstoke 2000. * 11. Minkin, p. 7. See also Ben Clift, Andrew Gamble, and Mike Harris. 'The Labour Party and the Company in the 20th Century' in J. Parkinson. A. Gamble and G. Kelly (eds.), The Political Economy of the Company, Oxford 2000. pp. 51-81. * 14. See Anthony Crosland, The Future of Socialism, London 1956, and Socialism Now and Other Essays, London 1974. * 15. Tudor Jones, Remaking the Labour Party: From Gaitskell to Blair, London 1996. * 16. Tony Blair, The Third Way: Politics for the New Century, London 1998, p. 3. * 17. Speech at the Institute for Public Policy Research, London, 14 January 1999, quoted in Michael White. "Meritocracy to replace "old establishment". The Guardian, 15 January 1999. * 18. Quoted in Andrew Rawnsley, 'The Working Class Can Kiss my arse -- I've got the boss's job at last', Ohserver, 17 January 1999. * 21. Martin Jacques quoted in Andy McSmith, The Faces of Labour, London 1994. * 23. Quoted in Andrew Rawnsley, The Servants of the People, London 2000, p. 213. * 24. See Alan Sawyer and Phillip Arestis, 'The Economic Analysis Underlying the "Third Way'". New Political Economy, Vol. 6 No. 2/2001. pp. 255-279. * 25. Joel Rogers and Wolfgang Streeck, 'Productive Solidarities', in: D. Miliband (ed.), Reinventing the Left, Cambridge 1994, p. 128. * 26. Andrew Gamble and Gavin Kelly. 'The British Labour Party and Monetary Union', West European Politics, Vol.23. No. 1/2000, p. 21. See also Dan Corry 'Macroeconomic Policy and Stakeholder Capitalism' in: Gavin Kelly. Dominic Kelly and Andrew Gamble (eds.), Stakeholder Capitalism, Basingstoke 1997, pp. 185-202. * 27. Peter Mandelson and Roger Liddle, The Blair Revolution, London 1996, p. 24. * 28. See John Westergaard, 'Where does the Third Way lead?'. New Political Economy, Vol. 4. No. 3/1999, and Ben Clift, 'New Labour's Third Way and European Social Democracy' in: S. Ludlam and M. Smith (ed.), New Labour in Government, Basingstoke 2000. * 29. A Finlayson, 'Third Way Theory'. Political Quarterly, Vol. 70. No. 3/1999 pp. 271-9. See Anthony Giddens, The Third War. Cambridge 1998, and, for a critique, Westergaard, 'Where Does the Third Way Lead?' * 32. Andrew Gamble, Politics and Fate, Cambridge 1999, p. 24. * 33. Due to France's drawn out, relatively recent, and only partial industrialisation, agricultural workers outnumbered industrial workers in France into the post-war years. It was only in the 1954 survey that manual workers finally out-stripped agricultural workers, comprising 33.8% and 26.7% of the workforce respectively. Furthermore, the large-scale Fordist production plants such as the Billancourt Renault plant were the exception and not the rule until well into the 1960s. In 1962, only 37% of the industrial workforce worked in 500 plants. See Sue Milner, 'France' in: S. Berger and D. Broughton (eds.), The Force of Labour: The West European Labour Movement and the Working Class in the 20th Century, Oxford 1995, pp. 211-244. * 34. See Sudhir Hazareesingh, Political Traditions in Modern France, Oxford 1994, p. 235. * 35. Quoted in Jeff Bridge ford, The Politics of French Trade Unionism, Leicester 1991, p. 7. Organised interests were illegal in France from the revolution until 1884, when the Loi Chapeliervjas reformed. * 37. See Alain Bergounioux and Geacuterard Grunberg, Le Long Remords du Pouvoir, Paris 1992. * 38. Herbert Kitschelt, The Transformation of European Social Democracy, Cambridge 1994. * 40. Lionel Jospin, Modern Socialism, London 1999, p. 5. * 41. David Hanley. 'The Parti Socialiste Franccedilais: Socialist Synthesis or Ambiguous Compromise?' in: S. Mazey et al, Mitterrand's France, Cambridge, 1987, p. 20. * 42. Philippe Marliere, 'The French Socialist Party', in: R. Ladrech and P. Marliegravere (eds.), Social Democratic Parties in the European Union, Basingstoke 1999, p. 68. * 44. See Bergounioux and Grunberg, Le Long Remords du Pouvoir. * 47. Jean Poperen, Le nouveau contrat socialiste: socialistes et liberteacute, Paris 1985. * 50. Jospin, closing speech to the PS Universiteacute d'Eteacute, 29 August 1999. Published as 'La nouvelle alliance', in Le socialisme moderne, Notes de la Fondation Jean-Jaures, No. 15, March 2000, or see PSintb.net website: http://www.psintb.net/ * 52. See Ben Clift, 'The Jospin Way', The Political Quarterly, Vol.72, No.2/2001, pp. 170-179. On the redistributive record, see Jonah Levy. 'France: Directing Adjustment?' in: F. Scharpf and V. Schmidt (eds.). Welfare and Work in the Open Economy, Oxford 2000. vol.II, pp. 337-344. * 53. See Pierre Moscovici, A La Recherche de la Gauche Perdue, Paris 1994, and L'Urgence: Plaidoyer pour une autre politique, Paris 1997. * 54. Interview with Harlem Deacutesir, national secretary in charge of relations with social movements in 1995, and a member of the Gauche socialiste faction. 23 November 1997. See also 'Gauche de lutte et gauche de pouvoir: entretien avec Lionel Jospin', Temps Modernes, No. 587/1996. * 56. The term social democrat implies acceptance of a compromise with capitalism, which, until the 1983 U-tum, the PS firmly rejected, at least rhetorically. 'Social democrat' was used as a term of abuse within the party, for example, by Chevegravenement to denounce Rocard. Social democratisation, formally accepting for the first time capitalism as the 'new horizon' within which the PS would operate, took place at the Arche Congress in 1991. See Parti Socialiste. Un Nouvel Horizon, Paris 1992. * 58. See the final text of the 1997 Brest Conference. Reacuteussir agrave Gauche, and the 2000 Grenoble Conference, Ensemble, reacuteussir aujourd'hui pour convainere demain, and Jospin's Modern Socialism, which, whilst expressing reservations about the term (p. 5), nevertheless situates his Government and his party's project within the European social democratic tradition. * 59. Perry Andersen, 'Introduction', in: P. Andersen and P. Camiller, Mapping The West European Left, London 1994, p. 11. * 60. Adam Przeworski and John Sprague, Paper Stonex: A History of Electoral Socialism. Chicago 1986, pp.25, 31, 50-62. * 61. This is another round in an ongoing debate about the appropriate measures of class for psephological analysis. At its heart are concerns that the manual/non-manual dichotomy blurs more than it clarifies. See Evans. "Class Voting". Specifically on Pzeworski and Sprague's arguments see Herbert Kitschelt, 'Class Structure and Social Democratic Party Strategy'. British Journal of Political Science, Vol. 23/1993, pp. 299-337 and Desmond King and Mark Wickham-Jones, "Social Democracy and Rational Workers', British Journal of Political Science, Vol.20/1990, p. 390. * 62. Philippe Marliegravere. "Introduction", in Ladrech and Marliegravere. p. 4. * 64. See for example David Butler and David Stokes. Political change in Britain: the Evolution of Electoral Choice, London 1974, and Guy Michelat and Michel Simon, Classe, Religion et Comportement Politique, Paris 1977, although the Michelat and Simon account recognises the interaction of religion and class. They highlight the role that Catholicism played in shielding workers from class consciousness. They show that Catholicism and atheism were the single most important determinants of political class consciousness. * 65. For example, 87% of the electorate in 1995 still classed themselves closer to one party than any other, and 75% of those retained the same party loyalty as their parents. However, whilst this influence still conditions voting behaviour, it by no means determines it, as declining party loyalty demonstrates. See Daniel Boy and Nonna Mayer's 'Introduction' in: L'Electeur A Sex Raisons Paris, 1997, p. 15 * 66. Patrick Dunleavy and Christopher Husbands, British Democracy at the Crossroads, London 1985; see also Daniel Boy and Nonna Mayer. "Que reste-t-il des variables lourdes?" in: L'Electeur a ses raixons, p. 131. * 67. See David Weakliem and Anthony Heath. 'The Secret Life of Class Voting: Britain. France, and the United States since the 1930s', in: Evans (ed.), The End of Class Politics?, esp. pp. 102-6. * 68. See Boy and Mayer, Richard Rose and Ian McAllister, Voters Begin to Choose, London 1986. and Mark Franklin, The Decline of Class Voting in Britain, Oxford 1985. * 69. Anthony Heath, Roger Jowell and John Curtice, Understanding Political Change: The British Voter 1964-1987. Oxford 1991; Michael Lewis-Beck et al, How France Votes. London 2000, * 70. Adam Przeworski, Capitalism and Social Democracy, Cambridge 1985, p. 100-1. * 71. Butler and Stokes, Political Change in Britain. * 72. Eric Hobsbawm. The Forward March of Labour Halted?. London 1981. * 73. See for example Frank Parkin, 'Working-Class Conservatives: a theory of political deviance', British Journal of Sociology, Vol. 18/1967, pp. 278-90, and R.E. Pahl and C. D. Wallace 'Neither angels in marble nor rebels in red: privatisation and working class consciousness', in: D. Rose (ed.), Social Stratification and Economic Change, London 1988. * 74. Quoted in Mark Wickham-Jones, The Labour Party and Economic Strategy, London 1996. * 76. Speech at the Institute for Public Policy Research, London, 14 January 1999, quoted in Michael White. "Meritocracy to replace "old establishment". The Guardian, 15 January 1999. * 77. Otto Kirchheimer, 'The transformation of West European party systems', in: J. LaPalombara and M. Weiner (eds.), Political Parties and Political Development. London 1966. * 78. Charles Pattie, 'New Labour and the Electorate' in Ludlam and Smith (eds.), New Labour in Government, p. 52. * 79. Giovanni Sartori, 'From the sociology of politics to political sociology', in: S. M. Lipset (ed.), Polities and the Social Sciences, Oxford 1969. p. 84. * 81. Phillip Gould, The Unfinished Revolution, London 1998, pp. 4, 22. * 82. See most recently G. Evans (ed.), The End of Class Politics? * 85. Michael Kenny and Martin Smith. "Interpreting New Labour: Constraints, Dilemmas and Political Agency', in Ludlam and Smith (eds.), New Labour in Government, p. 246. We may now, of course, add a fourth instance in 2001. Unfortunately, the in-depth analyses of the 2001 result have not yet been published, hence that election cannot be discussed in detail here. * 87. Paul Whiteley et al. 'Turnout', in: Morris (ed.), Britain Votes 2001, Oxford 2001. pp. 214-5. As they note, however, 'aggregate analysis cannot identify if this was due to abstention by Labour supporters or to some other effect'- p. 214. * 88. John Curtice, 'Class Acts'. The Guardian, 22 March 2000. * 89. Paul Webb. 'The British Labour Party', in: Ladrech and Marliegravere (eds.), pp. 103, 104. * 91. See Michael Lewis-Beck. 'Introduction: The Enduring French Voter' in: M. Lewis Beck. How France Votes, London 2000, pp. 1-14. * 92. Daniel Boy and Nonna Mayer. 'Que reste-t-il des variables lourdes?', pp. 114, 108. INSEE indicators distinguish between "independent" earners (farmers, artisans, traders, the self-employed), salaried manual workers, and salaried non-manual workers, and thus do not escape the manual/non-manual dichotomy. * 94. Alain Bergounioux, 'L'A venir de la Social-Deacutemocratie', Nouvelle Revue Socialiste, No. 11/1990, pp. 109-116. * 96. In addition to the Cocircte d'Azur, where the FN has long challenged the PS. new areas of socialist weakness emerged in 1993 from which the FN benefited. See Geacuterard Grunberg, 'Que Reste-t-il du Parti d'Epinay?' in P. Perrineau and C. Ysmal (eds.), Le Vote Sanction: Lex elections legislatives des 21 et 28 mars 1993. Paris 1994: maps 4 and 5 show the FN outstripping the PS vote from East of Marseilles to the Italian border. * 97. Geacuterard Le Gall, 'Une reacutepeacutetition des eacutelections de printemps 1992'. Revue Politique et Parlementaire, No. 964/1993, pp. 6-19, p. 22. * 98. Le Gall, 'A La Recherche des Electorals perdus' in Vendredi Ideacuteex No.3. June 1993. pp. 21-22. * 99. Alistar Cole, 'La France pour Tous?--The French Presidential Elections of 23rd April and 7th May 1995', Government and Opposition, Vol. 30/1995, pp. 338 and 343. * 101. Geacuterard Le Gall. "Leacutegislatives 1997: Un scrutin singulier pour la gauche plurielle'. Recherche Socialiste, 1/1997, p. 22. * 102. Le Gall, 'Leacutegislatives 1997', p. 33. * 104. Le Gall, 'Leacutegislatives 1997', p. 32. * 106. See the Interior Ministry Website, http://www.interieur.gouv.fr/elections * 107. Alain Bergounioux and Geacuterard Grunberg, L'Utopie A l'Epreuve, Paris 1996, p. 292. * 108. Pattie, p. 53. See also Paul Whiteley, 'Quids in -- or out', The Guardian. 22 June 1999. * 109. Geoffrey Evans. "Europe: a new electoral cleavage?', in: G. Evans and P. Morris (eds.). Critical elections, London 1999, pp. 209 and 214 and tables 11.3 and 11.4. * 110. Geacuterard Grunberg, 'Les franccedilais et l'Europe', Revue Politique et Parlementaire, No. 970/1994, pp. 20-26. * 111. Geacuterard Le Gall, 'Europeacuteennes 1994: des eacutelections de politique inteacuterieure', Revue Politique et Parlementaire, No. 971/1994, p. 6.
URI:	http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/id/eprint/1070

Request changes to a record

Actions (login required)

View Item