Voting Behaviour: Class Dealignment, Partisan Dealignment

This lesson examines the theories of voting behaviour that explain how and why people vote the way they do — and how these patterns have changed dramatically in modern UK politics.

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The Traditional Model: Class Voting

For much of the 20th century, voting in the UK was closely aligned with social class:

Class	Typical Party
Working class (manual workers, lower income)	Labour
Middle class (professionals, managers, business owners)	Conservative

This was sometimes expressed as: "Class is the basis of British party politics; all else is embellishment and detail" (Peter Pulzer, 1967).

Why Did Class Voting Exist?

• Socialisation: People grew up in communities with strong class identities and inherited party loyalties from family, workplace, and community
• Material interests: Working-class voters supported Labour because it promised to redistribute wealth; middle-class voters supported the Conservatives to protect their property and income
• Trade unions: Union membership reinforced Labour identity
• Party programmes: Labour's policies (welfare state, nationalisation) directly addressed working-class concerns

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Class Dealignment

Class dealignment is the process by which the traditional link between social class and voting has weakened.

Evidence of Class Dealignment

Indicator	Trend
Absolute class voting	The percentage of working-class people voting Labour has fallen (from ~65% in the 1960s to ~40% or less in recent elections)
The "Alford Index"	A measure of class voting that has declined significantly since the 1960s
Red Wall seats	In 2019, the Conservatives won many traditionally Labour-voting working-class seats in northern England
Middle-class Labour voters	Labour increasingly draws support from university-educated professionals, especially in cities

Causes of Class Dealignment

1. Occupational change: The decline of manufacturing and the growth of the service sector have blurred traditional class boundaries
2. Rising living standards: Home ownership, consumerism, and upward social mobility have reduced the salience of class
3. Education: Expansion of higher education has created a large graduate population that votes differently from non-graduates
4. Geographical sorting: Urban/rural and graduate/non-graduate divides now matter more than traditional class
5. Cultural and identity issues: Brexit, immigration, and cultural values have cut across class lines

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Partisan Dealignment

Partisan dealignment is the decline in strong, long-term identification with a particular political party.

Evidence

Decade	% with "very strong" party ID
1960s	~44%
1990s	~16%
2010s	~10%

• More voters describe themselves as floating voters (without a fixed party allegiance)
• Electoral volatility has increased — the swing between elections is larger than it was in the 1950s
• Split-ticket voting (voting for different parties at different levels) has become more common

Causes of Partisan Dealignment

1. Decline of socialisation: Weakened community, trade union, and church ties mean fewer people inherit a strong party identity
2. Media diversification: Voters are exposed to a wider range of political information and viewpoints
3. Education: Better-educated voters are more likely to evaluate parties on performance rather than loyalty
4. Party convergence: If parties are seen as similar ("they're all the same"), voters have less reason to identify strongly with one
5. Political disillusionment: Scandals, broken promises, and perceived incompetence erode party loyalty

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New Models of Voting Behaviour