OCCUPATIONAL CLASS AND VOTE IN THE 1949 NORWEGIAN ELECTION - RESEARCHNOTE

In 1948-49 the Sociology Office of the University of Oslo, under the g uidance of Prof. Paul Lazarsfeld of Columbia University, initiated a s eries of studies on the Norwegian economic planning system. Part of th is Planning Project was a national election survey in the fall of 1949 , on a modified probability sample of 2600 people. The results show th e paramount influence of economic class on voting, interpreting class as a combination of employer/employee relationship, property ownership , prestige-status, and income. Indicators of the homogeneity of class environment also played a role. Given the occupational structure of No rway, the Labor party had to win over part of the non-working-class po pulation to obtain control of the government. They did this by winning about 1/3 of the white-collar vote, and about 1/4 of the farmers and fishermen. The policies of economic stabilization - control of inflati on through price controls, wage controls, food subsidies, and rationin g, and maintenance of full employment under conditions of ''suppressed inflation'' - were crucial to winning over these white-collar and far m voters.