5. The Secret Life of Class Voting: Britain, France, and the United States Since the 1930s

Authors: Weakliem, David L.; Heath, Anthony F.

Source: The End of Class Politics?, September 1999 , pp. 97-137(41)

Publisher: Oxford Scholarship Online Monographs

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Abstract:

It is shown that since the 1950s, there has been little evidence of change in the voting patterns of most classes in France. However, farmers have clearly moved to the extreme right from the late 1950s onwards, thus producing a polarization in voting patterns between them and working class voters. The explanation for this rather specific over-time variation is argued to lie not in social change but in the political strategies of the Gaullist movement. As with the previous two case studies, parties are seen as the key actors explaining movement in class–party relations.

Keywords: over time change; class voting; comparative analysis; Erikson-Goldthorpe class; class politics

Document Type: Research article

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