 starter activity What is the serious political point behind this joke? Is there any truth in it?

What affects the way people vote today? Key determinants of class in the UK Assess the importance of class in voting behaviour. Factors influencing voters in UK today Role of age and ethnicity

 Your task Imagine you have been asked to conduct a survey to find out the class background of students at WGSB. Write down the sorts of questions you would ask to establish a person’s class.

Chief Income Earners occupation Grade Social Class Chief Income Earners occupation A Upper Middle-Class Higher managerial, administrative or professional. B Middle-Class Intermediate managerial, administrative or professional. C1 Lower Middle-Class Supervisory or Clerical and junior managerial, administrative or professional. C2 Skilled Working-Class Skilled manual workers. D Working-Class Semi and unskilled manual workers. E Those at the lowest levels of subsistence. Casual or lowest grade workers, pensions and others who depend on the welfare state for their income.

 Your task Read Watts page 20-22. Write a paragraph to suggest reasons why upper- and middle-class voters have traditionally favoured the Conservative Party. Write a paragraph to explain why people in social groups D/E tend to vote Labour.

 Your task 1.Write a list of qualities that make a political leader “good on television”. 2.Rank these factors in order of their importance as qualities for a party leader: All round capability Calm in crisis Down-to-earth Effective communicator Good grasp of political issues Honest and trustworthy Intellectual ability Personality Sound judgement Telegenic 3.Can you identify a politician you have seen on television and admire very much? What qualities do you admire about him or her? Consider the 3 leaders during the 2010 general election, how many of the listed qualities do they possess.

 Your task Conduct a case study of 2005 general election and assess the impact of class on the campaign and the results. Think about the groups who make up the C2s. How important are they in determining the outcome of elections? How have they been voting in recent years?

 Your task Assess the impact of other factors, e.g. media coverage or issues using Watts, p.22-25 and create a spider diagram recording their impact.

 Your task Read Watts pages 33 & 34. Look examples of party policies, and consider which age groups are targeted most. Study the table on page 34. Suggest reasons for the strong performance of the Liberal Democrats, as recorded in the table. To what extent did the Conservative Party benefit from Labour’s difficulties in the seats in which there was a substantial Muslim population? Explain your answer.

 Homework Skills work – review some of the key words covered so far in the course in preparation for a test next lesson. Test based Q&A type questions, where students define and explain a keyword in context

Discussion How could more members of ethnic minority families be encouraged to vote? Why might female voters still prefer Labour?