Unequal German Democracy and the Rise of the Life-Style-Left: Parties and Inequality, 1970–2021

Debates about the alleged pivot of left parties away from their traditional core concern with economic equality towards concerns with equal rights are rampant in Germany – both in political and academic circles. Often, they are inspired by developments in other countries, where centre-left parties have turned to progressive neoliberalism (i.e. equal rights concerns are more salient than redistribution) or a more communitarian profile (i.e. redistribution over equal rights). Based on new data on left parties’ equality concepts we assess claims about the rise of the so-called lifestyle-left – a term used in the German debate instead of progressive neoliberalism. Comparing and tracking the three German left parties between 1970 and 2021, we find three egalitarian trajectories that question and qualify this controversial, but so far untestable, claim. Die Linke is still prioritising economic and regional equality. The SPD has indeed de-emphasised economic equality but started to reemphasise it in 2017. While the Greens indeed prioritise equal rights over economic equality, they have done so consistently since the party’s founding (with very few exceptions, e.g. in 2013) – so this is not a new trend either. In sum, we caution against sweeping claims about changes of German left parties towards a lifestyle-left.