A report published in September 2025 reveals the underrepresentation of working-class people in politics among political leaders. The higher up the electoral hierarchy, the less their presence is. The collective Democratizing Politics advocates for “social parity” to correct this structural imbalance and better represent French society.
Magazine number 210 – March 2026
The figures speak for themselves: during the 2024 European Parliament elections, 81% of elected French MEPs came from the upper classes. How can we renew this national representation and strengthen the place of working-class people in politics?
Last September, the Democratizing Politics collective (DLP) published the report “Tous les mêmes?”. This work paints a social portrait of French politics from 2002 to the present day. As the municipal elections approach, this sociological work highlights a lack of personalities from working-class backgrounds. They remain scarce in the highest echelons of political life.
Additionally, DLP also suggests ways to promote greater social diversity.
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An unprecedented study
This unprecedented study was launched in 2022 by Kevin Vacher, a sociologist, Taoufik Vallipuram, a social entrepreneur and activist, and Tara Dickman, a strategy adviser. “After the legislative elections, some activists mentioned obstacles they faced,” contextualizes Kevin Vacher, director of the project and a practitioner of popular education. “We wanted to understand and analyze this problem, and verify it on the ground.”
After initially focusing on the reasons why working-class people are excluded, the collective shifted its focus. “We realized that their absence was less due to a lack of engagement and more due to a domination exerted by the upper classes.”
Indeed, DLP notes that 2.17 million people have run for election in the past twenty years. Among them, 60% came from working and middle-class backgrounds. To refute the idea of their disengagement, DLP cites recent examples such as the Motiv-Acids list in Toulouse, which elected representatives from working-class neighborhoods in 2001, or more recently, the “yellow vests” movement.
For the quantitative part, the collective analyzed electoral data. They examined the profile of elected officials since 2001. “This base from the Ministry of the Interior was public, but not exploitable: just studying the numbers required six months of continuous work on our part.” It is now possible to consult a map of elected officials on the collective’s website.
Therefore, from this data, it is observed that the representation of working-class people in politics decreases as one ascends the electoral hierarchy. They represent 22% of municipal executives (including small towns), 7% of regional and departmental elected officials, 6% of members of parliament, and 2% of senators.
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Working-class people in politics: invisibility and contempt
Furthermore, the report also highlights a geographical disparity: working-class people are more present in rural areas but remain largely invisible in urban centers. “As soon as political power is at stake, the upper classes organize themselves using the electoral system’s rules to be overrepresented and appropriate that power,” summarizes Kevin Vacher. According to the report, the National Rally is the most concerned party regarding this social disparity: during legislative elections, the proportion of its candidates from upper classes increased from 30% to 45% between 2012 and 2024.
In addition to the database, the three founders worked with a group of 42 “co-researchers.” This group consisted of engaged citizens who had experienced invisibility, contempt, or failures despite their political involvement. Through about a hundred hours of narrative socioanalysis workshops, these co-researchers shared their experiences in the corridors of power. Coming from different political backgrounds, they also compared their experiences. This exchange led to a list of about thirty systemic obstacles, which were then compared to existing scientific studies.
Trained in sociological interviewing and supervised by volunteers, the co-researchers then conducted 25 interviews with public figures, including parliamentarians, mayors, journalists, and figures from working-class neighborhoods. Finally, the qualitative findings were translated into quantitative hypotheses, resulting in the final report.
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Social parity: a solution for working-class people in politics
To address these findings, the collective advocates for the establishment of “social parity,” following the model of gender parity introduced in 2000, which helped feminize political life. To achieve this, DLP proposes limiting the overrepresentation of the upper classes according to their actual weight in the population. The collective also suggests a reform of the status of elected officials, facilitating access to training and reducing the risks of precariousness or isolation.
This approach has sparked the interest of the academic world. “Laboratories have organized seminars around the data highlighted in our report,” explains Kevin Vacher. “Several researchers have approached us to understand our method and this strategic use of social sciences.”
Finally, DLP aims to generalize access to data and make it available in open data. “We want them to be usable by journalists and to allow for analyses based on queries. This could be part of a Social Parity Observatory.”
According to Kevin Vacher, a better social representation of elected officials would benefit the entire population. It would particularly strengthen the position of working-class people in politics. “In Latin America, studies have shown that working-class people, whether right or left-wing, share common interests. We need to create new embodiments, make politics more egalitarian, and allow citizens to feel represented. This would reduce certain forms of discrimination and transform many public debates.”
