The Danish Class Structure

This article analyses the Danish class structure on the basis of Erik Olin Wright�s early class model (Wright 1978) and discusses its shortcomings. Seen in an international perspective the Danish class structure is very similar to the Swedish, and compared to, for example, the USA, it is charactenzed by a small petty bourgeoisie and a large number of semi-autonomous employees. The article also shows that it is important to account for the class composition of the population outside the labour force. As Wright�s theory ignores the qualitative societal changes associated with the welfare state, it fails to identify the categones of �state dependents� and public employees. The theory thus becomes of limited value in explaining political behaviour. If, however, a narrow conception of the working class (à la Poulantzas) is maintained, class theory is still superior to any other well known and statistically used model of social stratification in Denmark in explaining individual political behaviour.