Some Important Factors such as Social Class No Longer Influence Vote

英国已采用议会民主这是公认的。投票是英国的一个重要代表性的民主形式，一系列的选举都为公民提供了投票的机会。有一种刻板印象或传统观点认为工人阶级更容易投票，中产阶级更倾向于投票。在这一时期，这种强烈的、清晰的正相关关系在1945到1970在这一时期积极地发挥了积极的作用。然而，随着时间的进步和国内、国际形势的变化，社会阶层在影响投票行为的过程中似乎并没有那么强大。

It is universally acknowledged that Britain has used parliament democracy. Vote is a significant representative form of democracy in Britain and a series of elections all provide citizens with the chance to vote. There is a stereotype or a traditional argument that the working class is more likely to vote Labor and the middle class more likely to vote Conservative. This kind of strong and clear positive correlation between class identity and voting behavior has actively functioned during this period from 1945 to 1970. However, with the advancement of time and the changes of domestic and international situations, social class seems not so powerful and mighty in influencing voting behaviors.

First of all, it is imperative to indicate a conspicuous phenomenon that people nowadays in Britain are apt to express their appeals through other channels rather than vote. The ultimate purpose of pressure groups is not to establish a government itself but to attempt to exert influence on the policy-making of the government on issues related to their interests and concerns. For example, it does not matter for environmentalists or members of Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth which party, the Labor party or the Conservative party comes into power in the end. What they care about is to enact and practice effective regulations on environmental protection and arouse public attention to environment. To achieve this goal, they would rather to conduct demonstration or express opinions overtly in the media rather than to spend time and energy on deciding to vote for a specific party which may in reality break the prior promises. It is self-evident that the pressure groups compared with political parties usually have a loose structure and have no restrict regulations or elected leaders. It is the identical requirements and demands that assemble a group of people where divergences also exist in some other aspects. However, the shared aim and viewpoint on a certain issue can unite them and lead them to achieve a goal effectively. There may be class differences, but it is not the dominant factor.

Another important reason for the declining impact of social class on election and vote is the fade of ideological battle between right and left and the homogeneity of politicians and their proposals of different parties. The two-party system has long been a fundamental base for the smooth operation of English government. At the initial stage, English parties are characteristic of the distinct class supporters. Social classes can be considered the base of party politics. The Labor party had much to do with the working class in terms of political, organizational and economic principles. On the contrary, the Conservative party has been the representative of landlords and aristocrats and of interests of businessmen and entrepreneurs. Moreover, divergences were clearly revealed in both the manifestos for election and fierce debates over hot issues such as welfare, salary, revenue, rights of the trade union and educational expenditures. However, the policies and legislation of the two parties began to share more and more similarities since the end of the Second World War. For example, many policies employed by the Labor party government in foreign affairs, military defense, economy, immigration and non-colonialization have paved the way for the following governments, including the Conservative government. Butskellism is a typical example, which shows the consistency of economic policies of the Labor party and the Conservative party. The different points of view were greatly reduced in fields such as mixed economy system, governmental interference and full employment. This tendency increases after the New Labor came into power in 1997. New Labor has contended a third way between uncaring capitalism and statist welfare. Critics from the left have criticized New Labor for abandoning socialism. Actually, after the collapse of Soviet Union and the ending of cold war, with the great changes of international relations, the domestic politic situation also followed these dramatic changes. To some extent, the battles over ideology were not the core theme for Labor party and Conservative party and they have already reached some consensus in many issues. ‘The convergence of parties in the “center-ground” might also generate a feeling that there is little to choose between the main parties’ (Textbook, 167).

The third contributing factor is the increasing apathy and turnout of vote, especially in in the younger generation. Wright (2003, 68) uses figures to show that ‘in 2001, turnout fell to 59.4%. In 1950 it was 84%. Between 1950 and 1970 it was above 75%, and it did not fall below 70% until 2001. In 2010 turnout among those aged 18-24 was 44% and 55% for those aged 25-34 (altogether for those aged 18-34 it was 47% compared to 73% in 1997). In 1951, the Conservative won a modest majority of 17 seats on a vote of 48%, while in 2001 Labor won a crushing landslide with a 166-seat margin on a vote of only 40.7%’. Voting is a kind of behavior which requires the devotion of time and energy and is vulnerable to many external and internal elements. Personal circumstances may be an obstacle. For example, illness or personal affairs may possibly prevent people from voting on time. Besides, some people are simply alienated from the whole political process. Politicians are seen as remote and out-of-touch and elections as irrelevant. This may lead to a rejection of mainstream politics. constant scandals  and of Moreover, Vernon Bogdanor (textbook, 166) has ‘invents a concept named the decline of collectivism”; by which he means that people have become more “individualized” and do not seek improvement as a group, via collective political action, but rather through individual social mobility’. Thus, if election itself can never draw people’s attraction and fewer and fewer people have passion and patience for it, other secondary influences will decay. If participation cannot be guaranteed, voting and elections will be confronted with big challenges.

In conclusion, the fading influences of factors such as social class are to some degree inevitable. Apart from turnout, party membership, and allegiances also had declined. The clash of ideologies had become much more muted as party differences narrowed.

References
Textbook (如果有详细出版信息，请自行补全)
Wright, Tony. 2003. British Politics: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press.


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