Essay On Social Class

There are many important factors which influence voting behaviour, some more so than others, for example one of the most important is social class. Social class is determined by the registered generals classification, which is based on males of working age, people are classed on occupation, for example, the higher the social class, the better the job as social class 1, known as professionals, are people like doctors or accountants and social class 6, known as unskilled workers like cleaners. It has been tested and proven that most of the time, the higher the social class i.e. 1 and 2 vote Conservative and the lower social classes vote Labour, for example, in the 1997 general election, 42% of social classes 1 and 2 voted Conservative compared with only 21% of social classes 5 and 6. For Labour, 61% of social classes 5 and 6 voted for them compared with only 31% of social classes 1 and 2. However, social class mobility has led to many people moving up the social class ladder, but some have retained their working class background, one of which is to vote Labour.

Family background plays a significant part in political attitudes. Children will normally vote for the same party as their parents. Also, the neighbourhood you live in can have an influence. There are, however, people who do not vote for the party of their class, for example, the Conservatives would not win any elections if they had not captured enough working class votes, for example, the 1992 election, 38% of social classes 5 and 6 voted Conservative.

The media also have an impact on voting behaviour. It is the main source of information about government and politics and contributes to the democratic process as it encourages political awareness amongst the public. There ...

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...l choice affected the labour party in 2005 after the controversial invasion of Iraq and people opted to vote for different parties. For example in 2005 anti-war party the respect party won Bethnal green seat in parliament and overall in the UK the labour vote decreased 33% because people didn’t agree with the Iraq war. However this example could be linked to race as it was mostly Muslim voters who turned against voters. Similarly the economy was the biggest issue in 2010 and people said they trusted the conservatives over Gordon Brown in terms of the economy.

In conclusion, it is quite clear that there are many factors which influence voting behaviour, some more important than others. For example, the media and social class are very important factors. Recently gender has become less important in influencing voting behaviour and rational choice is also important.