Voting behaviour and the media Flashcards
What is social class?
The classification of people based on their occupation and to some extent their income
How is social class mainly expressed?
Through social grades
List social grades
. AB
. C1
. C2
. DE
What is AB?
high and intermediate managerial, administrative and professional occupations like a banker and doctor
What is C1?
supervisory, clerical and junior managerial, administrative and professional occupations like a teacher, office manager…
What is C2?
skilled manual occupations like plumber, hairdresser, mechanic…
What is DE?
. semiskilled and unskilled occupations
. unemployed
. lowest grade occupations
E.g labourer, bar staff, unemployed…
What is partisan dealignment?
Fewer voters are committed or loyal to a specific part.
What is class dealignment?
Fewer people associate themselves with a particular class, decreasing the impact of class on voting behaviour.
How has voting by class changed over time?
Statistically people used vote by what class they associated with however now due to class and partisan dealignment people vote for other reasons like party leaders, manifestos, belief in party…
Example of how voting by class has changed overtime?
. 78% AB voting conservative in 1964 while 45% AB voted conservative in 2019
. 64% DE voting labour in 1964 while 39% DE voted labour in 2019
Why is social class has an important role in voting?
. people with different levels of education vote for different parties. E.g in the 2019 general election 43% of people with a degree or higher voted labour
Why social class does not have a significant role on voting?
it is not reliable as a predictor as it once was of how a person might vote. it has been undercut by class dealignment
Example of why social class does not have a significant role on voting?
In the 2019 general election conservatives won support from all social grades, including AB and DE
What role does Age play on how we vote?
Generally younger people are more likely to vote labour than conservative and older people vote are more likely to vote conservative
Example of how Age plays a role on how we vote
. In the 2019 general election 56% of 18-24 year olds voted labour while 21% voted conservative
. However in the same election 19% of 70+ year olds voted labour while 69% voted conservative.
What are the regional voting patterns in the UK?
. The Labour Party have strong support in London and a plurality of votes in Wales and North England
. The conservatives have strong support in south east England and also do well in the east of England
. Snp is dominant in Scotland
Why do you think people vote a certain way by region?
It could be linked to the economic conditions of the area and class being the main determiner of voting.
Does gender have any role on how we vote?
Gender appears to have little or no impact on how we vote
Example of how gender does not affect voting behaviour
In 2019 46% of men and 44% of women voted conservative while 31% of men and 35% of women voted labour. Little difference showing how gender has no role on voting
Points for ethnicity being significant in voting patterns
. Conservatives had a 11 point lead over labour among white voters and this increased in 2019 to 19 points
. labour has a lot of support from BME voters (Black minority ethnic) receiving 64% of votes from BME while tories only received 20% in 2019
. Non white voters tend to vote labour
Why do non white voters tend to vote labour?
. There is an anti immigration sentiment of conservative figures like Enoch Powell and Norman Tebbit.
. The concentration of ethnic minority groups in urban industrial centres like London and, Birmingham and Manchester
Points that ethnicity does not have a significant role on voting patterns
. The BME community is complex in its voting patterns and religious factors may be playing a bigger role.
. The concentration of BME voters in lower paid jobs might mean they support labour for economic and class factors
. Many Asian Hindu voters that have become wealthier over time seem to have a bias towards the tories
