ABSTRACT
Conventional explanations for the political preferences for far-right-wing parties in Brazil and Germany share similar shortcomings. These explanations are often monodisciplinary: economists typically emphasize the material and distributive factors (e.g., middle-class squeeze, precarization of work), political scientists usually focus on ideological dimensions (e.g. meritocratic ideology, digital capillarity) and anthropologists and cultural sociologists highlight cultural aspects (e.g. sexism, racism, moral panic). This chapter addresses these limitations by employing the concept of intersectional situation, which expands and updates Max Weber's concept of class situation. The study proposes a comprehensive theoretical framework that links shifts in intersectional situations to the (contingent) articulation of political preferences. For this, I first present a theoretical framework which connects changes in intersectional situations and political choices. Then, I examine recent processes of de-ordering and re-ordering social hierarchies in Germany and Brazil. Finally, I demonstrate how intersectional upward and downward mobility (contingently!) shapes political choices in both countries.
