sociological factors and voting

Question 1

context ‘define’ point showing class is important

Answer 1

peter pulzer, class is the ‘basis of british politics’

Question 2

evidence that class is (currently) important

Answer 2

2017 labour held 72 of 100 constituenies with most working class households

safe seats (of a party) uphold these distinctions, top 5 safest seats come from strong working class liverpool

Question 3

evidence that class was (historically) important

two pieces of evidence, from thatcher and before

Answer 3

1960s,
-2/3 of con vote was middle class
-2/3 of lab vote was working class

1979,
25 point difference btw abc1 and de support for con

Question 4

evidence that class is no longer important

Answer 4

2017
4 point difference btw con support among abc1 and de

Question 5

ao2: why was class historically important (1979)

Answer 5

reasons
rational self interest
sociological model (social cleavage, political socialisation, party identification, voting intention)

Question 6

ao2: why such class partisan dealignment from 1979 to 2019

Answer 6

reasons
-triangulation of policies, e.g. thatcher right to buy and new lab not raise income tax
-change to post industrial economy, tertiary sector
-embourgeoisement, interests change post social mobility

analytical considerations
-perhaps not class based voting, but rather issue based, e.g. brexit most working class voted to leave

Question 7

sociological model

Answer 7

social cleavage (othering),
political socialisation (shared cultural events),
party identification,
voting intention

Question 8

evidence that age isn’t important

Answer 8

evidence suggesting age is important merely exploits short term factors
-labour’s appeal to young increased with election of corbyn

Question 9

evidence that age is increasingly important, and this is an increasing trend

Answer 9

young people 47 point difference between lab and con support, old people 50 point difference but in favour of con (2017)

such a strong trend that there is a crossover age of 39 for 2019, and for the next election is predicted to be 68 -> age is important, but there is still a crossover age (linear change in support as u get older) so age is so important and this is a trend

Question 10

ao2 why do young vote lab

Answer 10

reasons
-young means more egalitarian
-socialised in progressive environments e.g. harris westminster sixth fomr
-rationally, e.g. tuition fees clegg

Question 11

evidence that region was historically important (and still has some)

Answer 11

-devolved bodies have their favourite party e.g. scotland with snp
-n/s divide, red wall used to exist

Question 12

evidence that region is only important as an indicator of class, therefore region alone isn’t important

Answer 12

-johnson breaks red wall 2019 as class partisan dealignment happens (use evidence for that)
-2024 by election results suggest that voting is based on short term factors, e.g. uxbridge and south ruislip didn’t vote labour bc they were against ulez, rochdale voted for worker’s party bc of governing competence reasons

-existence of predictive archetypes of floating voters, e.g. stevenage woman, essex man, workington man (high predictive power), holby city woman -> u can have set region age class education, but are still floating

Question 13

race isn’t a strong factor

Answer 13

there aren’t enough bame people to make race a predictive power, e.g. 18 percent of electorate bame, 5 percent voted

Question 14

race is a strong factor

Answer 14

a pakistani person is…
-52 points more likely to vote lab 1997
-44 points 2017

Question 15

ao2 why might someone vote on lines with their race

Answer 15

-1965 race relations act, they have always been on the side of immigrants
-tories want to tighten borders, e.g. rwanda bill
-don’t want austerity, more reliant on public services

but the biggest reason of course….. short term factors!!!
-brexit, 2/3 asian, 3/4 black were remain and so voted lab

Question 16

holby city woman

Answer 16

female
30 or 40
nurse or teacher, public sector
labour

Question 17

stevenage woman

Answer 17

disillusioned suburban mother
midlands
22 percent of electorate

Question 18

workington man

Answer 18

red wall voter
social conservative
fiscally left
leave in brexit

Question 19

essex (mondeo) man

Answer 19

benefitted from thatcherite, self employed

Question 20

judgement on class

Answer 20

historically important but dramatic shrink in this trend, no longer a predictive power at all, peter pulzer is WRONG

Question 21

judgement on age

Answer 21

highly effective predictive power, always has been, this is increasing trend

Question 22

judgement on region

Answer 22

region is merely an indicator of class, and class was historically important and isn’t anymore, so the same with region

Question 23

judgement on ethnicity

Answer 23

high predictive power but applies to so few people (5 percent of people who voted) that it doesn’t actually have very much predictive power

Question 24

gender is important

Answer 24

-women con historically

-women more lab and men con now
-bc of divergent priorities, e.g. 20 point difference of men supporting iraq war more
-10 point diff of women more eurosceptical

Question 25

ao2 why did women vote con historically

Answer 25

-weren’t socialised at work by tus
-more religious

Question 26

gender isn’t important now (though it may have been in the past)

Answer 26

-but both 37 percent women and men thought cameron did ‘well’
-mere 1point diff in economy -> agree on larger more significant areas

-the trend isn’t even that pronounced, 2 point difference 2017

Question 27

judgement on gender

Answer 27

areas of agreement, e.g. economy, etc are sm more significant than smaller areas e.g. war which isn’t as often an issue as economy, therefore gender is a weak predictive factor

Question 28

how much of the vote did big 2 parties win 2019

Answer 28

82 percent