Social structures and Voting behaviour Flashcards
What is psephology ?
Branch of political science that focusses on elections and voting behaviour
What are voting Behaviour models ?
Theories that attempt to explain why and how people vote
-Social Structure
-Rational choice model
-Voting context model
-Party identification model
-Dominant ideology model
What is the social structure model ?
Emphasises the importance on social class on how a person will vote
-Socialisation, class , information biases all contribute
What are primary and recency factors ?
Primary = long term factors e.g class
Recency = Short term factors e.g party leader
What is the party identification model ?
Sees voters as psychologically attached to a party and will vote for them despite recency factors
What evidence is there that class and party dealignment have declined since 1974 ?
-Party membership levels have dropped
-Conservative ABC support has dropped
-DE labour votes dropped and conservative votes risen
What factors may cause Partisan and class dealignment ?
-Changing shape of the economy
-Social mobility
-Improved access to education
-Embourgeoisement
What does Volatility mean ?
relates to the significant changes in voting habits which have resulted in voting becoming less consistent and more unpredictable. It involves a shift in voter support between parties or between voting and identification, a process sometimes known as ‘churning’
What is the ‘Embourgoisement theory’ ?
Everyone is middle class in someway
What is swing ?
The movement of votes from one party to another (shown as a percentage)
What is churn ?
When the same number of people from each party switch
What is the Rational choice model ?
Argues that voters make decisions/conscious choice based on a range of short term factors
What is the Spatial model of voting behaviour ?
When voters make their decisions based on the most important factors of the day Theory suggests that if a parties policy matches the positions taken by the average majority voter they will win votes
What are Salient issues ?
The issues that are considered to be the most important in an election such as Economy, healthcare, Education, Taxation, Crime and Immigration
