COMMUNITY CHARACTERISTICS AND VOTING PATTERNS IN URBAN GREECE

The objective of this study is to examine the dynamics of mass politics in contemporary Greece by investigating the effects of certain community characteristics (i.e., traditionalism, social rank, community satisfaction) on intra‐urban voting patterns in the Athens metropolitan area. The focus is on the 1964 legislative election. In contrast to the inconclusive results of previous national level studies, as well as existing literature which has stressed vertical political ties and personality factors, the findings presented here offer empirical justification to the view that basic socioeconomic factors have exerted a statistically significant effect on intra‐urban spatial differences in partisan preferences in contemporary Greece. Both the theory and the data indicate that objective dimensions of the urban ecological structure, namely social rank and traditionalism, coupled with the subjective level of community satisfaction, have been closely associated with variations in electoral choice. Social rank proved to be a significant determinant of the left‐right cleavage in urban Greece. The evidence drawn from the Athens area strongly suggested a movement away from traditional patterns toward the emergence of a more rational and pragmatic basis for electoral choice in the Greek urban milieu.