Links in beeld: Een explorerend onderzoek naar de sociale kenmerken van extreem links in Nederland

A focus on the radical left. An exploration of social characteristics of left wing radicals in The Netherlands In this article, we map the features of left wing radicals in The Netherlands. Despite growing public interest, quantitative research on the social composition of the radical left is scarce. That is why this research focuses on the social characteristics and parental backgrounds of left wing radicals. For this purpose, specific data were collected among left wing adherents (LEK2004), which are compared with representative data of the Dutch population (FNB2000). Logistic regression analyses showed that left wing radicals are highly educated, received little economic education, often are students or unemployed, and are nonreligious. In the political field, left wing radicals are not very likely to vote, but they do have an above average interest in political issues. Parental backgrounds that enhance the chance of being radical left wing are a culturally-based parental education, parental secularity and parental voting for left wing parties.