Work in Progress

Class and Voter Interaction in Election Campaigns of Dutch Social Democrats, c. 1945 to the 1970s

Authors

  • Harm Kaal Department of History, Faculty of Arts, Radboud University Nijmegen

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.25365/oezg-2018-29-1-3

Keywords:

social democracy, the Netherlands, electoral culture, political representation

Abstract

Abstract: This article discusses the post-war history of the Dutch social-democratic Partij van de Arbeid. It takes as its point of departure the fact that the two elements at the heart of contemporary discussions about the future of social democracy – struggles over the definition of its constituency, particularly the role class should play in it, and attempts to revitalize its interaction with the electorate – are present throughout the post-war history of the PvdA. The article explores both the content and mode of political representation: it investigates the representative claims of the Dutch social democrats and the communicative practices through which these claims were made in order to establish how the PvdA imagined and tried to constitute its constituency. Who, which groups of voters, were the social democrats claiming to represent? How did they try to reach voters? How did their interaction with the electorate develop against the background of the rise of – new forms of – mass media?

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Published

2018-04-01

How to Cite

Kaal, H. (2018). Work in Progress: Class and Voter Interaction in Election Campaigns of Dutch Social Democrats, c. 1945 to the 1970s. Austrian Journal of Historical Studies, 29(1), 41–60. https://doi.org/10.25365/oezg-2018-29-1-3