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Rational Choice and Class Voting

Author

Listed:
  • DAVID L. WEAKLIEM

    (Indiana University)

  • ANTHONY F. HEATH

    (Nuffield College, Oxford)

Abstract

This article uses data from the 1987 British Election Study (BES) to examine the rationality of class voting. Class differences in support for parties of the left and right have usually been seen as a direct consequence of interests in income redistribution. The authors examine intervening variables that might explain the relation between class and vote, including attitudes toward redistribution and other economic issues and beliefs about the parties' concern with social classes and other groups. Controlling for these variables does not eliminate the direct effects of class. Some evidence is found that social influences may affect vote directly without operating through attitudes, as suggested by the Columbia voting studies and also that voters do not use the same standards in evaluating the parties, contrary to the assumptions of the prevailing spatial model. Substantial revisions are necessary if rational choice theory, as conventionally understood, is to account for class voting.

Suggested Citation

  • David L. Weakliem & Anthony F. Heath, 1994. "Rational Choice and Class Voting," Rationality and Society, , vol. 6(2), pages 243-270, April.
  • Handle: RePEc:sae:ratsoc:v:6:y:1994:i:2:p:243-270
    DOI: 10.1177/1043463194006002005
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Stokes, Donald E., 1963. "Spatial Models of Party Competition," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 57(2), pages 368-377, June.
    2. Kinder, Donald R. & Kiewiet, D. Roderick, 1981. "Sociotropic Politics: The American Case," British Journal of Political Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 11(2), pages 129-161, April.
    3. Phelps Brown, Henry, 1988. "Egalitarianism and the Generation of Inequality," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198286486.
    4. Hibbs, Douglas A., 1982. "Economic Outcomes and Political Support for British Governments among Occupational Classes: A Dynamic Analysis," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 76(2), pages 259-279, June.
    5. Enelow,James M. & Hinich,Melvin J., 1984. "The Spatial Theory of Voting," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521275156.
    6. Anthony Downs, 1957. "An Economic Theory of Political Action in a Democracy," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 65(2), pages 135-135.
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    Cited by:

    1. John H. Goldthorpe, 1997. "The Integration Of Sociological Research And Theory," Rationality and Society, , vol. 9(4), pages 405-426, November.

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