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The initial viewpoint of this paper is that one can understand neither the social foundation of the Progress Party nor its future maximum and minimum support from the electorate by abandoning the assumption that it is a class party. The question is whether this selective support forms a total pattern which clearly both designates the Progress Party as a class party and shows that new class distinctions have come to the surface in Denmark. Is the appearance of the Progress Party simply a symptom of new social contradictions splitting up and grouping some of the traditional social classes and, if so, what are these contradictions? A weakness of the material used here is that it only concerns one period of time, the late summer of 1976. Therefore, it does not allow for any changes over time in the social composition of Progress Party or other parties. Nevertheless, the material provides a basis for expressing some doubt about the declining class dependence of the political parties in recent times. These statements are based on analyses which do not normally discuss whether any change has occurred in the content of the classes over time. To what extent, for example, has the working class had to recruit its new members from other social categories than has previously been the case.

Theodor Geiger grew up in Germany and emigrated to Denmark in 1933, threatened by the Nazi regime. He worked at the University of Copenhagen 1933-38 and was the first Professor of Sociology at the University of Aarhus 1938-52. He spent 3 years in exile in Sweden. Geiger is an important figure in German and Scandinavian sociology and also known in English-speaking countries. He was a prolific teacher and writer. Throughout his life as a sociologist Geiger combined theoretical with empirical interest. If he rejected all speculation without a factual basis, he showed an equally strong disdain for empiricism without a theoretical foundation (Mayntz 1969). His works cover a broad spectrum of subjects, still of professional interest, such as: the foundation and fundamental concepts of sociology, the education of working-class people, industrial organization, class structure, stratification and mobility, social origin and functions of the intelligentsia, the sociology of law, critics of ideology and the nature of modern mass-society and democracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last five years space has been reintroduced as a fundamental dimension in sociology, amongst others by Giddens. Vivid discussions take place in Urban Sociology and Geography but clarity and agreement on the definition of space has not yet been reached. Is it more of a material, or more a social matter? To talk of socio-spatial relations is indeed a very complicated enterprise. This article suggests a definition and a model for socio-spatial relations, and illustrates this with data on the increasing local political activity of trade unions branches in Denmark. Especially the changing role of women in production and reproduction seems to contribute to interesting new forms of politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]