Abstract

In a recent paper, Piketty argues that the vote for the left in France, the UK and the USA tends increasingly to be associated with a high education level whereas a traditional class- or income-based divide separated left from right individuals in the 1950s and 1960s. The current situation would be characterised by a dominance of ‘elites’ in left and right constituencies: financially rich elites vote for the right (merchant right), high-education elites vote for the left (brahmin left). Using ISSP data for 17 countries, this paper tests the influence of income and education inequalities on political leaning and a variety of policy preferences: the support for redistribution, for investment in public education, for globalisation and immigration. Results show that income levels are still relevant for the left-right divide, but the influence differs across education levels. Our findings also point to a certain convergence of opinion among the Brahmin left and the merchant right, which could lead to a new political divide beyond the left and the right, uniting a bloc bourgeois.

摘要

在最近的一篇论文中，皮凯蒂认为，法国、英国和美国的左翼投票越来越倾向于与高等教育水平相关，而传统的基于阶级或收入的鸿沟在 1950 年代和1960 年代。当前形势的特点是“精英在左右选区：经济富裕的精英选右派（商人右派），受过高等教育的精英选左派（婆罗门左派）。本文使用 17 个国家的 ISSP 数据，测试了收入和教育不平等对政治倾向和各种政策偏好的影响：支持再分配、公共教育投资、全球化和移民。结果表明，收入水平仍然与左右鸿沟相关，但影响因教育水平而异。我们的研究结果还表明，婆罗门左派和商人右派之间存在一定的意见趋同，这可能导致超越左翼和右翼的新政治分歧，将资产阶级联合起来。