How a voter's social class affects their choice of political party.

The reasons why people vote as they do are many and varied. A person's choice of political party can depend on their occupation, upbringing, environment, religion or education - in short, which social class they belong to. As McAllister states, the modern way of life has brought with it the notion of voting according to class. "Class has formed the basis for party political divisions for most of the twentieth century. Since the industrial revolution, …

…society has changed. It was once clear-cut that a person would vote according to their occupation, upbringing, environment, religion or education - all factors that determined which class they identified with. But with the powerful emergence of the media in political campaigning, the changing nature of the major political parties, and the changing nature of society and class itself, it can be seen that the influence of class has far less importance on voting behaviour.