Protest and Survive? Alliance Support in the 1983 British General Election

1987 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-60 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donley T. Studlar ◽  
Ian McAllister
Keyword(s):  
Multivariate Analysis ◽  
Survey Data ◽  
Party System ◽  
Theoretical Work ◽  
Third Parties ◽  
General Election ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Future

Much of the key to the future of the British party system rests in the nature of the support for the Liberal–Social Democratic Alliance. If that support is a protest vote, the possibility of realignment within the party system is negligible; if it is socially and attitudinally distinct, then the potential for a fundamental realignment is clearly present. By applying multivariate analysis to survey data, this paper examines the social and attitudinal bases of support for the Alliance in the 1983 British general election, and for comparative purposes, examines Liberal support in the 1979 general election. The results show that Alliance support in 1983 was somewhat different from 1979 Liberal support, notably in terms of the issues that motivated Alliance voters. In light of comparative theoretical work on third parties, these findings suggest the possibility of a long-term rôle for the Alliance as either a realigning or at least persistently dealigning force.

Merger or Bust: Whatever Happened to Members of the SDP?

1994 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 403-417 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Denver ◽  
Hugh Bochel
Keyword(s):  
Democratic Party ◽  
Labour Party ◽  
General Election ◽  
British Politics ◽  
Social Democratic Party ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
Modern Times ◽  
The Social ◽  
Opinion Polls

The Social Democratic Party (SDP) was perhaps the nearest thing to a ‘flash’ party seen in British politics in modern times. It was formed in March 1981, largely on the initiative of four leading figures in the Labour party (Roy Jenkins, David Owen, Shirley Williams and William Rogers), following the apparent success of the left in dominating the party, and initially it had a sensational impact on British politics. It had thirty MPs by March 1982 (mostly as a result of defections by Labour MPs); in alliance with the Liberals it immediately went to first place in the opinion polls and stayed in that position until May 1982. The Alliance won four by-elections between 1981 and 1983, and in the 1983 general election, with 25.4 per cent of the vote, came within two points of ousting Labour from its second place. For the next four years the Alliance held its position and in the 1987 election its vote fell only slightly to 22.6 per cent.

scholarly journals Strategic planning under the Local Government Act 2002: towards collaboration or compliance?

2006 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mike Reid ◽  
Claudia Scott ◽  
Jeff McNeill
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Strategic Planning ◽  
Social Economic ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Audit Report ◽  
Local Authorities ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Future

By July 2006 all 85 local authorities expect to have their 10-year Long Term Council Community Plans (LTCCPs) signed and sealed, and passing muster with an unqualified audit report. The new Local Government Act 2002 (LGA 2002) has provided councils with general empowerment and introduced a new purpose (section 3) for local government: to ‘promote the social, economic, cultural and environmental well-being of communities now and for the future’.

Social Democracy in Welfare Capitalism – Structural Erosion, Welfare Backlash and Incorporation?

1978 ◽  
Vol 21 (1_suppl) ◽  
pp. 97-111
Author(s):  
Walter Korpi
Keyword(s):  
Alternative Interpretation ◽  
Test Case ◽  
Welfare Capitalism ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The Social ◽  
Post War ◽  
Democratic Parties ◽  
Social Democratic Parties

Sweden is here taken as a ‘test case’ for post-war social science theories predicting that changes inclass, stratification and community structures accompanying industrialization will gradually erode the base for socialist voting and make the mobilization of the electorate by the socialist parties more difficult. The maturation of the welfare state has further been predicted to generate a ‘welfare backlash’ against the social democratic parties. An analysis of long-term changes in social structure and socialist voting in Sweden does not give support to these hypotheses. An alternative interpretation is suggested in which the shape and changes in the power structure in society are taken as the starting point for the analysis of the possibilities and limitations for social democratic policies in advanced capitalist society.

In the interest of peace and progress: Eduard Bernstein's socialist foreign policy

1983 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 79-93
Author(s):  
R. A. Fletcher
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Democratic Party ◽  
Karl Marx ◽  
Theoretical Work ◽  
Social Democratic Party ◽  
Political Issues ◽  
Democratic Socialism ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
The Social ◽  
Almost All

Eduard Bernstein (1850–1932) is now widely known as the father of revisionism and one of the more important progenitors of democratic socialism. What is often still overlooked is that almost all his theoretical work (an attempt to update the thought of Karl Marx in the light of the changed conditions of advanced capitalism) was done in England during his London exile (1888–1901) and that for the last three decades of his life he was a practising politician who manifested a close, informed and overriding interest in the major political issues of the era. Almost without interruption between 1902 and 1928 he served as a Social Democratic deputy in the German Reichstag, where he functioned as one of the SPD's principal foreign policy and taxation spokesmen. He was most influential within the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) before and during the First World War, increasingly less effective after 1914. An outline of Bernstein's views on German foreign policy during the period when he was at the height of his authority as an active socialist politician thus promises to fill a gap in existing scholarship and to shed new light on the father of revisionism and his progeny.

scholarly journals Perspective sur la prospective

2009 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 330-342
Author(s):  
Jean-Luc Migué
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Adaptation Mechanisms ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World ◽  
The Future ◽  
Physical Variables ◽  
Long Term Forecasting ◽  
World Output

Long term forecasting, as popularized by some recent models of the world, appears to be a-scientific from the standpoint of the social scientists. The basis for this radical judgment is threefold: First, structural relations incorporated into these models of the world seldom go further than stating rigid relations between some physical variables and world output. Second, the factual basis on which these relations are built is often not validated by past trends. Finally, the framework within which these models are cast rules out all possibly for the social sciences to contribute to our understanding of the future. Political and economic adaptation mechanisms are excluded. Futurology as developed by some models is based on poor measurement and poor theory.

scholarly journals Techniques of futuring: On how imagined futures become socially performative

2021 ◽  
pp. 136843102098882
Author(s):  
Jeroen Oomen ◽  
Jesse Hoffman ◽  
Maarten A. Hajer
Keyword(s):  
Sociological Theory ◽  
Theoretical Work ◽  
Social Practices ◽  
Social Processes ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Future ◽  
Future 2 ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
Images Of The Future ◽  
The Relationship

The concept of the future is re-emerging as an urgent topic on the academic agenda. In this article, we focus on the ‘politics of the future’: the social processes and practices that allow particular imagined futures to become socially performative. Acknowledging that the performativity of such imagined futures is well-understood, we argue that how particular visions come about and why they become performative is underexplained. Drawing on constructivist sociological theory, this article aims to fill (part of) this gap by exploring the question ‘how do imagined futures become socially performative’? In doing so, the article has three aims to (1) identify the leading social–theoretical work on the future; (2) conceptualize the relationship of the imagination of the future with social practices and the performance of reality; (3) provide a theoretical framework explaining how images of the future become performative, using the concepts ‘techniques of futuring’ and ‘dramaturgical regime’.

scholarly journals Why don’t employers hire long-term unemployed entitled to a wage subsidy? The employer’s perspective on subsidised employment

2021 ◽  
pp. 0143831X2110643
Author(s):  
Lars Behrenz ◽  
Jonas Månsson
Keyword(s):  
Survey Data ◽  
High Wage ◽  
Wage Subsidy ◽  
Wage Subsidies ◽  
Subsidy Scheme ◽  
The Future ◽  
Key Policy ◽  
Policy Question

Despite a generous system with high wage subsidies for the long-term unemployed and newly arrived immigrants, many Swedish employers do not make use of this opportunity. This study seeks to increase knowledge of why some employers use the opportunity and others do not. Both register and survey data and combined register and survey data are used. One finding is that employers lack information about the subsidy programmes, although employers that had previously employed subsidised workers were much more likely to employ them in the future. Thus, a key policy question is how to present these subsidies to employers to reduce this barrier. The study also found that some employers hired people from these groups from altruistic motives. However, some employers responded that they would not employ a person entitled to a subsidy, regardless of the content of the subsidy scheme.

Futurology and Present: from improving the quality of human life to immortality

2021 ◽  
pp. 28-31
Author(s):  
L.M. Allachverdiev ◽  
◽  
N.V. Ponomarenko
Keyword(s):  
Social Life ◽  
Human Life ◽  
High Tech ◽  
Alternative Future ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Future ◽  
Further Development

Analyzed is the prospects for further development of humankind in future in the field of medical technologies. Trend “The science of the future” began to develop actively in the second half of the twentieth century. Futurology as a scientific and philosophical direction always actualizes the possible and alternative future, the ways of implementing the most fantastic ideas so far. Identifying possible lines of development and outlining the sphere of moral responsibility, futurology together with philosophy looks for opportunities to achieve immortality as a long-term goal. Then we consider the latest scientific medical projects to achieve a technical progress in improving quality and length of human life, bringing us closer to real immortality. While the first steps are being taken new methods of disease prevention are being tested, the causes of various pathologies are reconsidered and strategies for overcoming them are being developed. As a subject of study, the authors of the article review the role of medicine in the social life in the future as one of the most cutting-edge and high-demand areas of high-tech business, requiring philosophical reflection and fragmentation of the zone of responsibility on the way to real immortality.

Class, Attitudes, and Electoral Politics in Britain, 1974-1983

1987 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-71 ◽  
Author(s):  
IAN McALLISTER ◽  
ANTHONY MUGHAN
Keyword(s):  
Multivariate Analysis ◽  
Social Class ◽  
Survey Data ◽  
Longitudinal Analysis ◽  
Political Attitudes ◽  
Electoral Politics ◽  
General Election ◽  
Fundamental Change

There is now general agreement that social class has declined in electoral importance in Britain in recent years. There is disagreement, however, about the role political attitudes have come to play in structuring the vote. This article builds on our previous research on political attitudes and voting in Britain by applying multivariate analysis to survey data collected for the 1983 general election. The analysis uses a sophisticated conceptualization of social class and political attitudes, and examines both their interrelationship and their conjoint influence on the vote. The results show, first, that the most salient political attitudes in the 1983 election, socialism and nuclearism, were significantly rooted in social class. Second, considered comparatively, attitudes were about three times as important an influence in the election as social class. Finally, a longitudinal analysis spanning the October 1974, 1979, and 1983 elections, confirms other research and indicates that there has been little fundamental change in the electorate's overall attitudinal structure but that the change there has been contributed to the Labour Party's falling vote over the three elections.

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