Europe’s shrinking middle class is turning to the radical right, new study suggests

WU Wien research shows falling middle-class numbers and rising economic insecurity across Western Europe are linked to growing support for far-right parties

Western Europe’s middle class is getting smaller — and voters who fear dropping out of it are more likely to back radical-right parties, a new study has found.

Researchers at the Vienna University of Economics and Business (WU Wien) looked at EU-SILC data from 13 Western European countries and found that the middle class has thinned out sharply.

Far fewer workers now fall into middle-income brackets than they did a decade earlier. Among low-skilled workers, the share counted as middle class dropped by 8.9 percentage points between 2005 and 2018.

Skilled workers also slipped, with their middle-class share falling by six points over the same period.

The share of skilled workers in the middle class also shrank, dropping by a further six points over the same period.

But those who feel at risk of losing their middle-class position show a higher chance of supporting far-right parties, the study suggests.

Judith Derndorfer, from the Chamber of Labour and the Research Institute Economics of Inequality at WU Wien, said these parties are attracting voters who feel uncertain about their economic future and let down by mainstream politics.

The research also shows that some jobs face more risk than others. Business owners, skilled workers and low-skilled workers have far higher chances of downward mobility than higher- and lower-grade service workers.

Derndorfer said the pressure on social status creates conditions in which radical-right parties grow.

She said: “This erosion of social standing, 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, while Mediterranean and liberal welfare states show the highest, with corporatist states in between.”

The findings are published in the Review of Income and Wealth.

READ MORE: ‘Brexit still hitting poorest hardest as food costs rise and mental health worsens‘. Low-income families, migrants, young adults and small businesses remain the most negatively affected groups five years after the UK left the EU, with household budgets and wellbeing deteriorating.

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