Class and Voting

Question 1

What is a social class?

Answer 1

a group of individuals who share a common position within society

Question 2

What are the 6 socio-economic classes?

Answer 2

A
B
C1
C2
D
E

Question 3

Who are the socio-econoomic group A ?

Answer 3

higher professional, managerial, administrative

Question 4

Who are the socio-econoomic group B?

Answer 4

intermediate professional, managerial, administrative

Question 5

Who are the socio-econoomic group C1?

Answer 5

supervisory clerical, other non-manual

Question 6

Who are the socio-econoomic group C2?

Answer 6

skilled manual

Question 7

Who are the socio-econoomic group D?

Answer 7

semi-skilled and unskilled manual

Question 8

Who are the socio-econoomic group E?

Answer 8

residual, casual worker,s people reliant on state benefits

Question 9

In the 1960’s what did Pulzer conclude?

Answer 9

that ‘class is the basis of British Party politics; all else is embellishment and detail’

Question 10

Who in the 1960’s concluded that ‘class is the basis of British Party politics; all else is embellishment and detail’?

Answer 10

Pulzer

Question 11

Why in the 1960’s did Pulzer conclude that ‘class is the basis of British Party politics; all else is embellishment and detail’?

Answer 11

this is because the 1960’s were a period of high partisan alignment and class alignment

Question 12

How have relationships between class an voting been undermined by broader societal changes since Pulzer made his comments in the 1960’s? (3)

Answer 12

• decline in traditional heavy and manufacturing industries
• rise of the service sector
• Women’s role in society

Question 13

Between 1955-1996 how did employment in the

• service sector increase
• manufacturing employment decrease?

Answer 13

• service sector increases from 36%-76% of all workers

- manufacturing employment feel from 43% to 18%

Question 14

Between what years did employment in the service sector increase from 36%-76% and manufacturing employment fall from 43% to 18%?

Answer 14

1955-1996

Question 15

By 1996 how many worked in heavy industry?

Answer 15

0.9%

Question 16

in 1996 what types of industries were transferred to the private sector?

Answer 16

many nationalised industries

e.g-steel, gas, water

Question 17

what percentage increase was there of people who were self-employed between 1979-1990?

Answer 17

75%

Question 18

Why was there a 75% increase between 1979-1990 of people who were self-employed?

Answer 18

due to more women who came into the workforce

Question 19

Why did Labours core support become more difficult to identify ?

Answer 19

due to the decline of male dominated, labour intensive and heavily unionised industries because of the emergence of the less unionised service sector

Question 20

Around the time of the decrease in core support for Labour, what did Ivor Crewe talk about?

Answer 20

the “old working class” and the rise of the “new working class”

Question 21

What was the privatisation process and the introduction of competition to many areas said to do?

Answer 21

said to make people more individualistic and less intone with the kind of social engineering favoured by Labour

Question 22

What was one significant factor that made some in the working class feel more middle class?

Answer 22

the extension of she ownership

Question 23

What was the extension of share ownership ,which was one factor that made some in the working class feel more middle class , a part of a process of ?

Answer 23

the process of embourgeoisement

Question 24

What did the Housing Act 1980 do?

Answer 24

gave long-term council house tenants the ‘right to buy- their homes at discounts of 50-70% of the market value

Question 25

Why did the Conservative government want to allow the predominantly working class people living in council houses to become ‘owner-occupiers’?

Answer 25

as they would be a group who would be far more likely to identify with the Conservative party at general elections

Question 26

How is the Alford Index calculated?

Answer 26

from subtracting the percentage of non-manual Labour from the percentage of manual voters voting Labour

Question 27

By what percentage did the Alford Index decrease from in 1964 and 1997?

Answer 27

42% in 1964

22% in 1997

Question 28

What voters did Margret Thatcher attract?

Answer 28

c2 voters ‘working-class tories’

Question 29

What voters under Tony Blair did Labour attract?

Answer 29

AB voters

Question 30

For David Denver, what did the 1997 election with its 10+ swing underline the validity of ?

Answer 30

the validity of the dealignment thesis

Question 31

Why was there a greater volatility and swing in the 1997 general election to Labour?

Answer 31

this is because long term factors such as social class should remain relatively constant over time and a decline in the influence of such factors should therefore result in greater volatility and greater swings

Question 32

in the 2010 general election who voters did the Labour party lose?

Answer 32

c2’s
D’s
E’s

Question 33

What percentage of C2 voters voted Labour and Conservatives, did they gain or lose?

Answer 33

Labour-29% (-11)

Conservative- 37% (+4)

Question 34

What percentage of AB and DE voters did Labour and Conservatives have ?

Answer 34

Labour AB-26%
Conservative AB-39%

Labour DE-40%
Conservative DE-31%