“Cultural Voting” and Transition from Traditional and Class Gaps: Case Study of the French Elections of 2017

The voting behavior paradigms of the past decade sought to show the relation between social and economic variables and votes. Although economic theories and intellectual paradigms regarded the vote as the result of rational computation and rational action, they still insisted on the importance of class judgment. This was due to the fact that the arrangement of political forces in most societies were understandable based on the social and economic gap of the left and the right. But in recent decades, with the growing importance of "cultural capital" in social relations, class and economic voting are retreating vis-a-vis a new phenomenon which is "cultural voting". This vote has its roots in the occurrence of traditional left and right gaps, and has affected them at the same time. This article examines how and why these cultural ratings and structural changes in the traditional left and right gaps have emerged. The main subject is the features of "cultural voting" and the role of cultural and symbolic capital in the arrangement of political forces. In order to demonstrate the transition of class voting to cultural voting, the French elections of 2017 and in particular the working class voting are analyzed.