Perception of the Basic Cleavages of Finnish Society

The purpose of this survey is to find out how Finns perceive some economic, political and social contrasts of their own society. On the basis of factor analysis these contrasts are grouped into three clusters: (1) opposition between the rulers and the ruled. (e.g. employers vs. employees, politicans vs. ordinary citizens), (2) party-political contrasts (e.g. the Right vs. the Left) and (3) opposition of old and new (e.g. urban dwellers vs. rural dwellers, young vs. old). The first cluster of contrasts resembles quite strongly the classic class contradiction model described in Marxian theory.Of the 16 original contrasts the following ones are perceived to be greatest in magnitude: rich vs. poor, Right vs. Left, Communists vs. others, working class vs. bourgeoise and Coa lition Party (Conservatives) vs. others. It is found that supporters of the leftist parties per ceive contrasts belonging to the cluster (1) on an average greater than do supporters of the bourgeois parties, but no such difference is found in the case of other contrasts. Although the survey concentrates on the internal contrasts of the Finnish society, this method can also be applied to the study of perception of international cleavages.