1. What influence do social groups and partisanship have on voting behaviour Part 1 Flashcards
What is psephology?
Psephology – a branch of political science that focuses on elections and voting behaviours
What are voting behaviour models?
Voting behaviour models are theories that attempt to explain what influences our decision of who to vote for. Each model emphasises the importance of different factors
what are primary factors
Primacy Factors
(long-term factors)
e.g.
Class
Age
Ethnicity
Gender
what are recency factors
Recency Factors
(short-term factors)
e.g.
Election campaign
Policies
Debates
Party leaders
What is the social structures/ sociological model of voting behaviour?
Social Structures Model
(Sociological Model)
Emphasises the importance of social groups + characteristics
e.g.
- Class e.g the working classes could have a shared interest in greater public sector spending
- Gender
- Ethnicity
- Age e.g. young people could have an interest in lower education costs and apprenticeships
- Region
what is socialisation
Socialisation – The process through which individuals learn acceptable beliefs and behaviours from their family, friends, work colleagues and community
examples of information biases
Information biases:
- Growing up around trade unions might expose you to more pro-Labour information
- Growing up around business owners might expose you to pro-Conservative views
what is ‘class’
Class – a social group whose members share economic, social, or cultural characteristics
- Until the 1970s, class was seen as the most important factor explaining voting behaviour
eg. Working classes -> vote ->Labour
Middle classes –> vote –> Conservatives
what is class alignment
Class alignment – where there is a clear and predictable link between class and voting behaviour
what is partisan alignment
Partisan alignment – where voters strongly identify with a party and loyally support them in multiple elections
what is the party identification model of voting behaviour?
Party identification model – Sees voters as psychologically attached to a particular party, identifying with them and supporting them in spite of any short-term factors
“I’m Labour”
“I’m a Conservative”
what do we mean by ‘social class’
a social group whose members share economic, social, or cultural characteristics
what is class dealignment
Class dealignment – where there is no longer a strong, predictable link between class and voting behaviour
what is partisan dealignment
Partisan dealignment – where voters no longer strongly identify with a party and their support changes between elections
why might the economy be causing class and partisan dealignment
- Since WW2, transition from an industrial to a post-industrial economy
- Decline of unionised industries like mining
- Growth of white-collar jobs and the middle classes
