Does local area social mobility affect political alienation?

McNeil, Andrew ORCID: 0000-0003-0791-9143 and Sturgis, Patrick ORCID: 0000-0003-1180-3493 (2024) Does local area social mobility affect political alienation? Political Studies. ISSN 0032-3217

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Abstract

While existing research has considered how individual-level social mobility experiences affect a person’s political outlook, less attention has been paid to how historic levels of social mobility in local areas influence political attitudes and political behaviour. We link individual-level data from the UK Household Longitudinal Study to small area estimates of social class mobility derived from the decennial census. We find that living in a low absolute social mobility area was associated with a higher probability of voting ‘Leave’ in the 2016 UK European Union membership referendum. However, we find no evidence that historical social mobility rates in the local area predict abstention in general elections or attitudinal indicators of political alienation. Given declining rates of upwards mobility, and increasing levels of downwards mobility, our results have important implications for understanding geographies of political discontent.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	© The Author(s) 2024.
Divisions:	Methodology
Subjects:	H Social Sciences J Political Science H Social Sciences > HM Sociology
Date Deposited:	08 Nov 2024 17:21
Last Modified:	15 Nov 2024 17:42
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/125984

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