Class, consumption and voting : an ecological analysis of wards and towns in the 1980 local elections in England

This paper examines a number of claims about the origins of changing spatial patterns of voting behaviour in Britain. Reporting the results of an ecological analysis of voting behaviour at ward level in the 1980 local elections, it addresses arguments about the effects of class divisions, consumption locations and local political cultures on electoral outcomes. Inference from regression equations suggests: that class remains the most important predictor of election results; that this probably relates to the character of the local environment to which consumption practices make an important contribution; and that there is some evidence for the existence of local political cultures, but that they are of minor importance in a statistical explanation