social structures model

Question 1

what does the social structures model refer to?

Answer 1

class

Question 2

what is class alignment?

Answer 2

the strong association of membership of a social class with support for a political party

Question 3

what is class dealignment?

Answer 3

the breakdown since the 1970s of the long-term association of a social class with support for a political party

Question 4

factors that impact voting: religion

Answer 4

-conservative party has been usually associated with the church of england
-liberal party were always associated with non-conformity
-labour had been regarded as as a religiously tolerant party, however in 2005 they lost muslim votes due to the Iraq war and Jewish votes in 2019 (jeremy corbyn)

Question 5

factors that impact voting: class

Answer 5

-upper and middle class voters have traditionally favoured the conservatives
-social groups D/E tend to vote Labour

Question 6

factors that impact voting: region

Answer 6

-conservative = south east, south west, east, midlands
-labour = greater london, north east, north west, yorkshire, wales
-scotland = SNP

Question 7

factors that impact voting: ethnicity

Answer 7

-members of ethnic minorities have typically been more likely to vote Labour than Conservative
-across all ethnic minorities the turnout is low
-2019= 64% of BME (black and minority ethnic) voted Labour

Question 8

factors that impact voting: gender

Answer 8

-in early surveys women tended to be more likely to vote Conservative
-however in the 1980s women were becoming more inclined to vote Labour

Question 9

factors that impact voting: age

Answer 9

-young people (18-24) more likely to be Labour voters
-older people (55+) more likely to vote Conservative

Question 10

reasons for party dealignment since the 1970s: CD

Answer 10

-class dealignment
-has been a decline in the links between class and party
-for example in 1997 Labour put a lot of effort into attracting voters outside of its usual class, and appealed to middle england
-most significant reason, as weaker class structure directly correlates to party dealignment

Question 11

reasons for party dealignment since the 1970s: TGE

Answer 11

-the generational effect
-new, usually young voters enter the register while others, usually older die in between elections

Question 12

reasons for party dealignment since the 1970s: E

Answer 12

-education
-a better educated electorate is more able to make rational political decisions
-so voters are less reliant on unthinking psychological attachment to a particular party

Question 13

reasons for party dealignment since the 1970s: M

Answer 13

-media
-wasn’t until the 1960s that the majority of households had TV sets
-since then coverage has changed
-interviews are much less deferential

Question 14

reasons for party dealignment since the 1970s: ID

Answer 14

-ideological disjuncture
-party loyalty is likely to be reduced if the attitudes and beliefs of a party’s supporters becomes out of step with some of the basic principles of the party
-e.g. core labour supporters were unhappy with university tuition fees and Blair’s decision to invade Iraq