How Far is Social Class Still a determinant in Voting Behaviour?

A-Level: Politics

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In the 1950’s and 60’s, the major determinant in voting behaviour was social class, in fact, two-thirds of the working class regularly voted Labour and four-fifths of the middle classes, Conservative, according to Butler and Stokes. The one-third of working class people who voted Conservative were thought to have done this largely because of deference, based on McKenzie and Silver’s research.

However, from the 1970’s onwards, social class declined as a factor in electoral voting behaviour; the electorate became increasingly more volatile and prepared to abandon their traditional voting habits.

The 1970’s and 80’s displayed quite substantial ‘realignment’ to “third forces”, especially to the Liberals in all their various incarnations, and, from 1979 onwards especially, there was quite sizeable working class ‘dealignment’ to Mrs Thatcher’s Conservative Party, especially among the upwardly mobile “new working class” (Crewe) of the Midlands and South East.
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