Your reading at home Revision book page 62 (up to page 66)

1. Your reading at home Revision book page 62 (up to page 66)

2. Textbook ‘Politics in a Democratic Society’ • Pages 5 – 11 • Do tasks from screen.

3. Your task • Textbook ‘Modern UK Politics’ by John McTaggart. • Pages 106 – 110. (Do tasks on page 110) • Make up a glossary of terms eg Pephologist, Mondeo Man, class dealignment, partisan dealignment, Worcester woman

4. Voting and class • “Class is the basis of British party politics; all else is embellishment and detail.” P.J. Pulzer 1967 • Is this supported by evidence?

5. Can ‘class’ be defined? • Before you answer this question you need to be sure that ‘social class’ can be readily defined? • The Registrar General classes people in four main categories ie. A/B (professional), C1 (white collar workers – offices), C2 (skilled manual workers e.g. Dupont, BNFL), and D/E (semi – skilled and unskilled). • A/B might be called upper class, C1 and C2, middle class and D/E working class.

6. What is class? • People of similar class will have similar jobs, similar life experiences and needs and are therefore likely to support a common political party. • What class are you?

7. Why have people voted according to class? • Parties can be seen to represent certain specific class interests e.g. Conservative Party supports farmers and issues such as fox hunting. • The Labour Party was formed to defend the interest of Trade Unions, workers and the unemployed.

8. Is the case that class used to be influential but not now? • Social class certainly used to be dominant, e.g. in the 1950’s two thirds of the ‘working class’ voted Labour, and four-fifths voted Tory. • Over time though, we have seen a process of ‘class dealignment’ take place, e.g.the existence of middle class radicals & working class Tories. In 1997 only 42% of AB’s voted Tory.

9. What is ‘class dealignment?’ • Analysts like Ivor Crewe think that the link between class and voting has declined and refers to this as ‘class dealignment’. • He has noted that employment patterns have changed with Britain having fewer heavy industries. Jobs in mining and steel works were clearly working class. • Trade Union membership has declined. The Trade Unions continue to sponsor the Labour Party. • More working class people have bought their own homes, run a car and holiday abroad. These used to be middle class attributes.

10. Labour and the ‘Third Way’ • Recognising that the working class was shrinking, Labour leaders moved the party away from the left. • The word ‘Socialist’ is rarely used, red ties are rarely worn as ‘New Labour’ tries to appeal to middle class voters. • Voter turnout in working class areas is now very low (e.g. Glasgow in 2005 – less than 40%) and some Scots have abandoned Labour for the Scottish Socialist Party.

11. In Conclusion? • Partisan dealignment (reduction in two party dominance) is also evidence of decreasing importance attached to social class, e.g. 93% of voters supported the Tories or Labour in the 1950’s but by 1997 this figure had dropped to 75%. • Today, there are a swathe of factors which determine voting behaviour, e.g. age, ethnicity, geography, etc. • The most important factors today are arguably short-term factors such as image of the leader, party policies, perceptions of competence, and a raft of other ‘key issues’ e.g. in 1997 the key issues were sleaze and Tory divisions. • Blair’s adoption of ‘Third Wayism’ also influences voters. • Conclusion: Class was important, but is probably no longer the dominant factor.