Two Studies in the Middle Class Vote: I--The Middle Class Elector

Abstract

^ r N BRITISH politics the middle class is a label or slogan thrown about in public discussion rather than a precisely defined unit. The followng , zexamples of propositions commonly uttered will be familiar: That this or that stands for the middle (or by contrast the working) class. That a should not act as a class party in the sense of favounng one or other class group. That the middle class deserves consideration in government policy, or at least that its interests ought not in justice to be disregarded. Alternatively that the middle class is an important section of the electorate, especially in marginal constituencies, and that any would be wise to avoid antagonizing it. More speculatively, that the middle class occupies a middle position in the system of choice, and may hold the balance of electoral weight. As soon as one begins to examine these assertions it becomes evident that a merely abstract or arbitrary definition of the middle class will not suffice. One has to get at the meaning intended. Since those who advance the opinions are seeking to carry conviction rather than establish an exact science, they do not usually supply the precise formula of the mixture in the bottle. Indeed the danger is that if political spokesmen are-pressed too far on the road to exact statement they cease to be interesting. One might say of this, as of other concepts in political thought, that the greater the precision the greater the exTor. Accordingly we are led back to the sources of public utterance to inquire what are the senses ln which politicians and political publicists (hence presumably the less articulate electors) understand the term. After studying a large collection of articles and speeches and a quantity of literature I have classified the various senses of the term in three general groups: (a) Income Descriptions. Usually persons with a comfortable, though not extremely high, standard of life by contrast with '! the poor ; not usually including manual wage earners although occasionally it is argued that well-paid skilled men ought to be considered middle class.