Decade of Dealignment
The Conservative Victory of 1979 and Electoral Trends in the 1970s

This 1983 book examines British politics in the 1970s based on national surveys conducted at the time.

Bo Särlvik (Author), Ivor Crewe (Author), Neil Day (Assisted by), Robert MacDermid (Assisted by)

9780521136938, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 25 February 2010

412 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 2.3 cm, 0.6 kg

In what ways did the nature of party support, and the attitudes of the electorate to the parties, change in the 1970s? How volatile was the British electorate? Was the two-party system breaking down? What were the causes of the Conservative triumph in 1979? Basing their work on national surveys conducted by the British Election Study at the University of Essex after the elections of February and October 1974 and May 1979, Bo Särlvik and Ivor Crewe examine the whole range of issues which formed the British political climate in this period. This 1983 book's focus is on the election of May 1979, but the analysis is placed in the context of changes in British politics that were signalled by the elections of 1974 as well as longer-term trends. This work provides a wealth of information for all who are interested in the recent history of British party politics and the ways in which people vote.

Preface
Note on documentation
Note on tables
Part I. Political Context and Electoral Change Ivor Crewe: 1. The flow of events
2. The flow of the vote
3. The lockgates on the vote
Part II. Issues, Opinion and Party Choice in the 1979 Election Bo Särlvik: 4. Opinions on political issues and voting - the directions of the enquiry
5. Why the parties were liked and disliked
6. Managing the economy - the Labour government's record and the Conservative alternative
7. Responses to social and cultural change
8. Nationalisation and social welfare policies - a rightward shift in electoral opinion 1974–1979
9. Policy alternatives and party choice in the 1979 election
10. Ambiguity and change in party positions: three special cases
11. The impact of the issues - an overall account
12. The electorate and the party system
13. The making of voting decisions: political opinions and voting intentions during the campaign
Part III. A Turning-Point?: 14. At the end of a decade
Postscript: realignment in the 1980s?
Appendix. Constructing the flow-of-the-vote tables
Notes
Index.

Subject Areas: Political economy [KCP]