The Reproduction of Political Inequality: Parents Account for Class Differences in Turnout

Class origin structures the conditions of early political learning, but parents’ political behaviour is the central channel through which class-based inequalities in participation are transmitted and reshaped over the life course. Using linked parent–child panel data from the BHPS and UKHLS (1995–2022), the study examines how class background and parental electoral participation during the formative years influence turnout from ages 18 to 40. Class-origin differences are largest at the start of adulthood but weaken, whereas exposure to parental voting has a stronger and more persistent influence on participation. The intergenerational transmission of participation is highly heterogeneous: differences by class origin persist only among those exposed to voting parents, while parental disengagement overrides between-class differences. Parental influence also varies by class contexts, remaining strongest among individuals from middle-class backgrounds. Class structures political socialization, but parents transmit, reinforce, or weaken class-linked norms, shaping the reproduction of inequality across generations.