The New Middle Class

Making Sense of Middle-Class Politics: A Secondary Analysis of the 1987 British General Election Survey

“…(1985: Table 5.2) also point to the existence of sectoral divisions within the service class (as does Robertson, 1984), though they appear to be considerably less significant than in Marshall et al's survey, and they argue that for some particular socio-economic groups (SEG 5.1) they disappear altogether. Heath (1990) makes a similar point in his analysis of the 1987 election, where he argues that an apparent association between sector and vote largely disappears once occupational differences within the service class are taken into account. Heath (1990) argues his case however only by using a simple dichotomy between the 'public sector' and the 'private sector'.…”

“…Heath (1990) makes a similar point in his analysis of the 1987 election, where he argues that an apparent association between sector and vote largely disappears once occupational differences within the service class are taken into account. Heath (1990) argues his case however only by using a simple dichotomy between the 'public sector' and the 'private sector'. He does not distinguish the nationalised industries from public services (though Heath et al, 1985 do).…”

“…Clearly, there are very significant associations here between sector and vote. The reason why Heath (1990) found no public-private division among managers in his analysis of the 1987 General Election is because his figures for the public sector vote are actually a misleading statistical artefact lumping together two very different groups, in the nationalised industries and the public services.…”

“…One way of explaining patterns of middle-class political allegiance is to suggest that occupational divisions within the service class are of particular importance. Heath et al, (1985), Heath (1990) and Goldthorpe (1982Goldthorpe ( , 1980 are well aware of these divisions, and Goldthorpe refers to the existence of what he terms 'situs' divisions between professional and managerial workers. But these are seen as variations within the service class rather than as fundamental axes of political division.…”

“…Most of SEG 5.1 are not in these groups: indeed the majority are teachers and nurses. A brief scrutiny of the voting patterns for In his forthcoming analysis of the 1987 General Election Heath (1990) has abandoned his stress on the 'new working-class' thesis, and has instead argued for the significance of the 'creative and welfare professions' as a relatively more radical group within the service class. This is a much more acceptable line of argument, and can be clearly linked to the differences between professional and managerial workers we have demonstrated above.…”