Dominant ideology theory

1. Dominant ideology theory MinooMirzaei

2. What is it? • Newspapers, magazines, television and radio(mass media) influence voting behaviour. • The media is the means whereby voters form opinions on the ability of political leaders. • Dunleavy and husbands (1985) have argued that individual choices are influenced by media misrepresentation. I their view , the newspaper and television distort the process of political communication. • In the run up to the 2010 UK General Election, the Sun newspaper ran the headline ‘Labour’s Lost it’, letting readers know it has switched its support from the Labour Party to the Conservative Party. The Sun has the largest circulation figures in the UK and famously supported the Labour Party in 1997.

3. Who proposed it? • The dominant ideology, is Marxisttheory.

4. Evidence for it... • Media analysis has sometimes encouraged the view that promise of politicians has not always been matched by outcome so that in the eye of many voters the party and politicians all seem as bad as each other. • Daily Record favours the Labour Party and that the Daily Mail favours the Conservative Party.

5. Evidence against it • This theory tries to indicate that those who vote can easily be disillusioned by what they see and also it suggest that people are less intelligent to think and choose for them selves which cannot be true. • There are other factors and theories that can influence our voting behaviour : • Class and status (sociological theory) • Age and gender • Party identification theory ( occupation and background) • Rational choice theory • Geography • Issue voting