ABSTRACT
The rise of the New Left in the 1980s and the radical right in the 1990s has been widely interpreted as the demise of class politics. Contrary to the established parties, these new movements were seen as no longer relying on particular social groups, but as attracting a broad range of citizens on the basis of their values and attitudes (e.g., Dalton 1996: 332). Taking up the issues of New Politics, these new parties exploit a conflict based on cultural values, which—unlike the material interests drawing the older political divides—were seen to be no longer rooted in different social positions. Likewise, the concept of cleavage—central to the understanding of Old Politics—no longer appeared to make sense with respect to these merely value-based parties.
