A rural consciousness, encompassing a rural identity and resentments directed at urban areas and the political elite, has emerged as a key explanation for the growing rural-urban political divides affecting many Western democracies. However, existing research has largely focused on the case of the United States; there is also no consensus as to the structure or dimensionality of rural (and urban) consciousness. In response, this paper develops and tests a battery of 16 items for measuring consciousness in five Western European countries: Britain, France, Germany, Spain, and Switzerland. We show that both rural and urban consciousness are best understood as comprising a dimension of identity and three dimensions of resentment pertaining to power, resources, and culture, in line with Cramer's original conceptualization. We furthermore find that rural consciousness in Western Europe is generally associated with indicators of ''left behind'' status such as low income and lack of a university education and is also associated with identification with the political right. This shows how rural-urban identities and resentments can help illuminate the changing political landscape of Western Europe.

Drawing on a corpus of mainstream party political manifestos from UK General Elections between 2005 and 2024 (655,528 words), we explored representations of 'economic inequality' and redistributive mechanisms within the British liberal welfare regime. Our results suggest the limited relationship between objective measures of inequality and the semantics of economic inequality stems from differences in underlying concepts. Specifically, political communicators focused on 'equality of opportunity,' voicing concerns about discrimination and social mobility rather than wealth and income distribution. Redistributive mechanisms were shaped by beliefs about which groups are valued or devalued in society. Additionally, political parties were not neutral on economic inequality or redistribution; rather, these concepts were politicized and tied to blaming alternative parties for challenges in achieving the 'British dream'.