On the Death and Resurrection of Class Voting: Some Comments on How Britain Votes

Abstract

How Britain Votes,1 based on the 1983 British Election Study, challenges the consensual view that in recent elections class voting has declined and thereby contributed to Labour's electoral misfortunes. It redefines social classes, including the working class, claims that relative class voting shows no evidence of decline, argues that Labour's electoral troubles are largely due to the diminishing size of the working class, not its changing character, and infers that Labour need not and should not dilute its explicit working-class appeal. This article shows that these criticisms of previous work are misplaced; that the claim that class voting has not declined is marred by logical, conceptual and measurement flaws; that a class dealignment has undoubtedly occurred; and that the implications for Labour's electoral strategy are the opposite of those suggested.