Survey Research and Social Class in Venezuela

Evaluating Alternative Measures and Their Impact on Assessments of Class Voting

Datos Bibliográficos

ID2966671
AutoresSamuel Handlin (0000-0003-3459-2609, University of Utah, autor de correspondencia)
Año2013
Volumen55
Número1
Páginas141-167
Fecha de publicación2013-01-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaLatin American Politics and Society (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1531-426X • E-ISSN: 1548-2456
EditorialCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1111/j.1548-2456.2013.00187.x
OpenAlexW2147190839
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas10
Referencias citadas36

The ascendance of the left in Latin America has sparked new interest in the politicization of social class. What factors should scholars consider in choosing and constructing measures of social class in survey research? To what degree can measurement affect results? This article evaluates several common measures in terms of validity and reliability. It then shows that alternative measures produce strikingly different results when examining class voting in Venezuela's 2006 presidential election. Simple measures of household income or wealth, which fare poorly in validity assessment, suggest minimal levels of class voting. Various socioeconomic scales that also incorporate data on education and, in some cases, weights for household composition, suggest very high levels of class voting. The article provides guidelines for evaluating measures and illuminates the debate on class voting in Venezuela. Scholars have reached contradictory conclusions while using different measures, but the decisive role of measurement has gone unrecognized

General Social Survey · Latin Americans · Political science · Social class · Socioeconomic status · Sociology · Statistics · Survey data collection · Voting · Computer Science · Demography · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · Latin American socio-political dynamics · Law · Mathematics · Politics and Society in Latin America · Psychology · Social Psychology