Chapter Seven Class and Politics

Chapter seven of the book Social Class and How Does It Work, a relationship was found between class and politics. Large differences in participation, political money, and voting was noticed. This type of analyses reveals sharp changes in the class character of the electoral coalitions of the major parties with the weight of working class voters diminishing significantly in the democratic party's coalition. (pg 222) The idea that the richness of the richest allows them to control different parts of our government is puzzling to me in a country which boasts of its past democratic constitution. Rich politicians elect officials with a diverse range of views but all of which ultimately respond to the needs of the rich.

Traits like occupation, and education as class labels used to give incumbents a shred set of interests connected by the wealth and power they posses (pg 212) Yet no as mentioned in the article however class is measured debates on how and why class influences political behavior is still very important. The article also mentions how there is no single way of capturing the overall electoral impact of class divisions (pg 214). In other words by taking into account the relative size of social classes as well as their turnout and vote choice we can obtain a better sense of the combined impact of class politics on the electoral strategies and policies that politicians and parties ultimately pursue ( pg 214) Managing this information I believe is crucial for a further understanding of what voices are truly being heard, those of the richest or common folk.