• Join over 1.2 million students every month
  • Accelerate your learning by 29%
  • Unlimited access for just £4.99 per month

If social class no longer determines party allegiance in the UK, what does?

Page
  1. 1
    1
  2. 2
    2
  3. 3
    3
  4. 4
    4
  5. 5
    5
  6. 6
    6
  7. 7
    7
  8. 8
    8
  • Essay length: 2403 words
  • Submitted: 16/12/2011
Share this essay:
University Degree UK Government & Parliamentary Studies

The first 200 words of this essay...

If social class no longer determines party allegiance in the UK, what does?

In the 1950s and 1960s the British electorate was described as aligned. The two most significant types of alignment were partisan and class alignment. As a result, the electorate in those two decades was seen as a stable two-party system. The Conservatives and Labour controlled the government and electoral changes in the United Kingdom were small and slow. However, since the 1970s we could observe a serious change. The electorate was not stable any more and changes were much faster and more sudden. The Conservatives and Labour did not dominate the party system any more. At first the Liberals began to get stronger, then the Liberal and Social Democratic Party alliance, and finally the Liberal Democrats. Besides, in Scotland and Wales nationalist parties started being important players. Since then single-party government has not always been possible to be achieved and parties have sometimes had to form coalitions (e.g. a Labour and Liberal coalition in the late 1970s or the Conservative - Liberal Democrat coalition now). This whole trend that has been happening since the 1970s is called dealignment, which is weakening of previous alignment, e.g.

Read more
The above preview is unformatted text

Found what you're looking for?

  • Start learning 29% faster today
  • Over 150,000 essays available
  • Just £4.99 a month

Marked by a teacher

This essay has been marked by one of our great teachers. You can read the full teachers notes when you download the essay.

Peer reviewed

This essay has been reviewed by one of our specialist student essay reviewing squad. Read the full review on the essay page.

Peer reviewed

This essay has been reviewed by one of our specialist student essay reviewing squad. Read the full review under the essay preview on this page.