Summary Edexcel A Level Politics voting behaviour notes

What influence do social groups and partisanship have on voting
behaviour (part one)?
Psephology = branch of political science focusing on voting behaviour
Models of voting behaviour = theories that attempt to explain what influences our decision of who to
vote for; each model emphasises the importance of diff. Factors
Primacy factors = long term e.g. class/age/ethnicity/gender
Recency factor = short-term e.g. election campaign/policies/debates/party leaders
Social Structures Model
- AKA Sociological Model
- Emphasises importance of social groups + characteristics (class/gender/ethnicity/age/region)
- Social groups have shared interests e.g. working classes have greater interest in public
sector spending, young people have an interest in lower education costs
- Socialisation = process through which individuals learn acceptable beliefs + behaviours from
their family/friends/work colleagues/community
- People learn from others in their community out of a desire to fit in so will likely end
up with similar interests/voting behaviours
- Information bias = members of social groups only being exposed to a limited range of
ideas/arguments e.g. growing up around trade unions might expose you to more pro-Labour
info
- Class (= social group whose members share economic/social/cultural characteristics) was
seen until the 1970s to be the most important factor affecting voting behaviour
- Working classes voted Labour
- Middle classes voted Conservative
- Class alignment = clear + predictable link between class + voting behaviour
Party Identification Model
- Sees voters as psychologically attached to a particular party, identifying w/ them + supporting
them in spite of any short-term factors
- Voters start to see the party they support as part of their identity (‘I’m a Conservative’,
‘I’m Labour’)
- Partisan alignment = voters strongly identify w/ a party + loyally support them in multiple
elections

- Both models have become strained:
- Political party membership has been declining since 1950s
- Social classes are no longer as clearly attached to a party + the definitions of social
class has become more complex:

Social grade Social class Description

A Upper middle class Higher managerial, administrative or professional

B Middle class Intermediate managerial, administrative or professional

C1 Lower middle class Supervisor or clerical, junior managerial, administrative
or professional

C2 Skilled working class Skilled manual workers

D Working class Semi + unskilled manual workers

E Those at the lowest level State pensioners/widows (no other earner), casual or

, of subsistence lowest grade workers
Class dealignment = no longer a strong predictable link between class + voting behaviour
Partisan dealignment = voters no longer strongly identify w/ a party + their support changes between
elections
Factors leading to change in voting behaviour:
- Economy: transition from an industrial to post-industrial economy; decline of unionised
industries like mining + growth of white-collar jobs/the middle classes
- Social mobility: social class used to be very rigid; improved access to education/welfare has
led to a degree of embourgeoisement (= as w/c people become more m/c so does their voting
behaviour)
- Party policy: political parties have started adapting their policies to appeal to people who
usually don’t vote for them e.g. ‘Right to Buy’ under Thatcher, effort by Labour Party under
Tony Blair to rebrand + win over business leaders + m/c voters
- Participation: declining party membership meansparties have fewer core voters + must reach
out to floating voters w/ more centrist policies; significant growth in support for 3rd parties e.g.
UKIP, Greens, Lib Dems