Sunday, April 25, 2010
The Relationship Between Social Class and Political Affiliation
I will argue that in the history of American politics and in today's political system that social class membership or social affiliations directly affect the political decisions that we make and the political affiliations that we choose. There are certain social classes associated with either the Democratic party or the Republican party. Income and education level are only some of the social group differences that affect political choices, affiliations, or habits. My research has yielded so far that groups with low incomes tend to align with the Democrats, while groups with higher incomes tend to align with Republicans. This is just one of the many "social class" differences in political choices. I plan to provide more research to support my argument that social class does affect political preference in my final paper. I also plan on detailing which classes align with which American political parties.
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Just a few thoughts: I'd be very interested to see what the income levels of moderates look like, or at least a consideration of other parties.
ReplyDeleteAlso, how levels of education correlate to income and party affiliation. Are people with college degrees making more money and becoming Republicans?
And how has this picture changed over time? Have richer people always identified with small government (supposedly Republican ideals) and poor people with welfare issues (supposedly Democrat ideals)?
well, i'm not much of a political buff... so i don't really have much feedback to give you, but the topic does sound interesting.
ReplyDeleteTaking into account the class of moderates and third party supporters would be interesting.
ReplyDeleteDennis Gilbert's book The American Class Structure deals with your topic on pp. 186-194. I recommend it!
Gilbert includes several graphs and visuals to represent his ideas. I recommend including visuals to all of you, especially if you are providing statistical evidence. A picture, as they say, is worth a thousand words.
I don't know too much on politics so I can't give much feedback, but I can tell that you seem to be on the right track with your research. You sound very passionate about your paper, and seem ever prepared.
ReplyDeleteI myself do not get into politics that much as well. I can see where you are going on your paper somewhat? I am interested to read your final paper.
ReplyDeletethere was recently a study done by CBS and the New York Times that discussed characteristics of tea partiers (proud to be one) and I found it very interesting. you may also...
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/15/us/politics/15poll.html
I also do not get into politics and do not really understand much about them, but I wish I was. Its one of the things I need to work on and take more interest in. Your paper seems like it will be interested and those of us that don't really know anything about politics could learn from it.
ReplyDeleteDr. B and Bridget, thanks for the input and the suggested sources - both sound very promising! One of the problems that I often find with any political science reading is that it's boring and written in language that seems purposely hard to understand. I plan on making my paper equally about social class and politics. Hopefully it won't sound like the droning political science pieces that I've been forced to endure in some of my classes haha. I'm glad to see that some of you don't really have backgrounds in politics, that makes me want to make the paper as interesting as possible so that hopefully, some of you will become interested in politics! Thanks for all of the feedback, I have a long way to go before this is due Friday. I plan on using a lot more sources than first submitted in my annotated bibliography, and luckily there seems to be lots of information out there about social class and political party affiliation.
ReplyDeleteYour subject is great but is definitely one of the most controversial. I will be the first to admit I really know nothing about politics, but would be quick to assume that no one in the "lower class" has ever been elected for office. I'm sure I am wrong in a few cases, and I'm not saying that they shouldn't have every right to run for an office. I am just saying that in our elections appearance, education and family life are a huge factor in which candidate we select! Good Luck with your paper
ReplyDeleteI really think you have combined two topics that are most original. I have never thought about how our social class is intertwined into political parties, and really think it would be interesting to read about. I personally dont know much about politics but I could see how income could influence what political party you choose to be a part of.
ReplyDeleteI would be interested in whether political orientation follows pecking order with the two sides of the spectrum interlaced rather than weighted to one end or the other. Groups tend to be antagonistic towards their direct neighboring classes with support coming from the next most distant.
ReplyDelete