Rejecting education as the basis of the social prestige of occupations: the role of polarized political ideologies and parties in Switzerland

Because of an important consistency in the prestige ratings of occupations from respondents across various social groups, countries and over time, the roots of divergent perceptions of the social prestige of occupations have attracted little attention. Yet structural changes in modern economies, brought by rapid globalization and technological change, and the polarization of political life might have triggered a growing contestation of the traditional foundations of modern societies. We contribute to this important question by analyzing a unique data set in Switzerland based on a survey of adults’ perception of the social prestige of occupations. As our results indicate, respondents identifying with major or minor right-wing populist parties do not reject the dominant view of the prestige of occupations. Rather, adherence to radical political ideologies, whether at the far left or far right, correlates with a lower impact of the educational requirements of occupations on their perceived social prestige. Interestingly, individuals at the far left of the ideology spectrum also value autonomy at the workplace less, while voters of the New and Centre-Left put a stronger emphasis on problem-solving skills for the prestige of occupations