Blue collars striking the Red Flag: formal and descriptive representation of the working class in the Belgian House of Representatives 1946-2007

摘要

In this article the effect of ideological changes in political parties (catch-all process) and in their recruitment patterns (professionalization) on the party affiliation of working-class politicians is investigated in Belgium, both for Members of Parliament (MPs) and for candidates. The disappearance of the link between the working class and social-democratic parties due to enlargement of the parties’ focus coincides with a decline in formal and descriptive representatives of that class in such parties. This could be problematic for the substantive representation of working-class interests. The relatively high number of working-class representatives in extreme right parties do not necessarily defend all working-class interests.View full textDownload full textRelated var addthis_config = { ui_cobrand: "Taylor & Francis Online", services_compact: "citeulike,netvibes,twitter,technorati,delicious,linkedin,facebook,stumbleupon,digg,google,more", pubid: "ra-4dff56cd6bb1830b" }; Add to shortlist Link Permalink http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0023656X.2012.679398