Partisan Alignment Partisan alignment refers to the situation in Britain forty years ago when voters tended to vote on
class Conservatives consumers Crewe Deferential deviant exaggerated homeowners identified instrumental Iron Labour leader media Mobility press rural Secular south taxation technology unionised grounds - around 65% of the working class voted Labour and around 75% of wealthier classes voted for the
class Conservatives consumers Crewe Deferential deviant exaggerated homeowners identified instrumental Iron Labour leader media Mobility press rural Secular south taxation technology unionised .
Deviant Voters Those who did not vote with their class were described as
class Conservatives consumers Crewe Deferential deviant exaggerated homeowners identified instrumental Iron Labour leader media Mobility press rural Secular south taxation technology unionised voters.
Explanations 1.
class Conservatives consumers Crewe Deferential deviant exaggerated homeowners identified instrumental Iron Labour leader media Mobility press rural Secular south taxation technology unionised Voters - some members of the working class were identified as having “deference” to their “betters”. They believed that the ruling class were born to rule and should be looked up too. McKenzie and Silver identified this trend as most common in
class Conservatives consumers Crewe Deferential deviant exaggerated homeowners identified instrumental Iron Labour leader media Mobility press rural Secular south taxation technology unionised areas
2.
class Conservatives consumers Crewe Deferential deviant exaggerated homeowners identified instrumental Iron Labour leader media Mobility press rural Secular south taxation technology unionised or Privatised instrumental Voters - Goldthorpe and Lockwood noted that younger factory workers had become quite well paid “affluent workers” and were now voting like
class Conservatives consumers Crewe Deferential deviant exaggerated homeowners identified instrumental Iron Labour leader media Mobility press rural Secular south taxation technology unionised in a supermarket rather than on class or ideological grounds. They voted for the party they believed whose policies would materially benefit them the most. The
class Conservatives consumers Crewe Deferential deviant exaggerated homeowners identified instrumental Iron Labour leader media Mobility press rural Secular south taxation technology unionised voter argument was used widely to explain Mrs Thatcher’s election victories in the 1980’s when less than half the manual working class voted
class Conservatives consumers Crewe Deferential deviant exaggerated homeowners identified instrumental Iron Labour leader media Mobility press rural Secular south taxation technology unionised .
Partisan Dealignment Partisan Dealignment refers to the process identified by Ivor
class Conservatives consumers Crewe Deferential deviant exaggerated homeowners identified instrumental Iron Labour leader media Mobility press rural Secular south taxation technology unionised - people’s attachment to a particular party was weakening rapidly. Working class people particularly no longer automatically
class Conservatives consumers Crewe Deferential deviant exaggerated homeowners identified instrumental Iron Labour leader media Mobility press rural Secular south taxation technology unionised with the Labour Party. Whilst Labour’s support remained largely working class in the 1980’s the working class as a whole moved away from Labour.
Reason for Partisan Dealignment 1. Social
class Conservatives consumers Crewe Deferential deviant exaggerated homeowners identified instrumental Iron Labour leader media Mobility press rural Secular south taxation technology unionised - Crewe identified the emergence of a “new working class” who worked in high
class Conservatives consumers Crewe Deferential deviant exaggerated homeowners identified instrumental Iron Labour leader media Mobility press rural Secular south taxation technology unionised service industries in the
class Conservatives consumers Crewe Deferential deviant exaggerated homeowners identified instrumental Iron Labour leader media Mobility press rural Secular south taxation technology unionised of England. Such people tended to be
class Conservatives consumers Crewe Deferential deviant exaggerated homeowners identified instrumental Iron Labour leader media Mobility press rural Secular south taxation technology unionised (often as a result of Conservative policies of selling off council homes) and on relative high incomes. The new working class had little connection with the Labour Movement because their industries tended not to be
class Conservatives consumers Crewe Deferential deviant exaggerated homeowners identified instrumental Iron Labour leader media Mobility press rural Secular south taxation technology unionised and were attracted to Conservative policies such as low
class Conservatives consumers Crewe Deferential deviant exaggerated homeowners identified instrumental Iron Labour leader media Mobility press rural Secular south taxation technology unionised .
2. Party Image - Crewe suggested that the media image of the party and its
class Conservatives consumers Crewe Deferential deviant exaggerated homeowners identified instrumental Iron Labour leader media Mobility press rural Secular south taxation technology unionised was becoming more important than policy or ideology. Labour leaders such as Michael Foot and Neil Kinnock were portrayed in a very bad light in the media whereas Mrs Thatcher’s image as the “
class Conservatives consumers Crewe Deferential deviant exaggerated homeowners identified instrumental Iron Labour leader media Mobility press rural Secular south taxation technology unionised Lady” was much more positive
Criticisms of Partisan Dealignment Theory Gordon Marshall has suggested that Crewe
class Conservatives consumers Crewe Deferential deviant exaggerated homeowners identified instrumental Iron Labour leader media Mobility press rural Secular south taxation technology unionised the emergence of a new working class and that he didn’t present much evidence for its existence
Butler and Kavanagh have suggested that Conservative victories in the 1980’s and the 1990’s have been more to do with short term factors like the Falklands War and with
class Conservatives consumers Crewe Deferential deviant exaggerated homeowners identified instrumental Iron Labour leader media Mobility press rural Secular south taxation technology unionised bias.
Interestingly when the Sun newspaper switched its allegiance from the Conservative Party to Labour Party in 1996 the Labour Party started to win elections. Previously Labour has been constantly portrayed as divided, badly led and “Looney leftie” in most of the tabloid
class Conservatives consumers Crewe Deferential deviant exaggerated homeowners identified instrumental Iron Labour leader media Mobility press rural Secular south taxation technology unionised