The seminar will be held in English.

The Hamburg Political Science Seminar Series (HPS³) features international speakers presenting cutting-edge research in all subfields of political science.

We welcome on Wednesday, November 11, 2026 - 16:30-18:00 CET in Allende-Platz 1 (AP 1) Room 110

Janne Tukiainen (University of Turku)

Title: Class, Social Mobility, and Voting in Democratizing and Industrializing England

Abstract:
Does class voting reflect shifting economic interests or durable political identities? We present original panel data on 130,000individual-level vote choices and occupations in nineteenth-century England, a period of industrialization and democratization. Skilled workers and the petitebourgeoisie disproportionately supported Liberals, while the gentry, white-collar workers, farm workers, and non-skilled workers leaned Conservative. Exploiting within-voter occupational mobility, we show that mobile voters resembled their destination class cross-sectionally but did not change their vote when their own class changed. Class-based political alignments thus appear durable at the individual level within the horizon we observe, even as the Industrial Revolution transformed society.

Keywords: Class-based voting, economic voting, poll books, socialization, social mobility, voting behavior

The HPS³ seminars take place in person at the UHH. Please find the preliminary program (pdf) on the HPS³ Website.

We invite everyone interested to attend the HPS Seminar Series and are looking forward to seeing you. 

No prior registration is needed.