ABSTRACT
Theories on post-industrialism generally agree that post-industrial societies are characterized first, a shift from the production of manufactured goods to the production of services, and second by a “new centrality” of theoretical knowledge and technical information. In the early 1980s, there were widespread expectations that the “post-industrial revolution” would entail a substantial restructuring of traditional cleavages along a new axis, separating the “proponents of the established industrial order” from the “supporters of New Politics goals.” Post-industrialization results in a fundamental transformation of the social structure of traditional industrial societies. Post-industrial sociostructural and sociocultural change has a significant impact on political orientation. Much of the literature on political change in advanced capitalist societies assumes that post-industrialization has a significant impact on both electoral choice and party politics. The case of Austria suggests that support for new parties is grounded in a combination of sociostructural and sociocultural factors that largely follow from the logic of post-industrial change.
