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.

---

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

---

Class Dealignment