However despite all of these changes in attitudes Britain was still primarily ruled and governed by the upper and upper-middle-class aristocracy. At this time the House of Commons was elected by only 4.16% of the population. The lack of response from the government to these social changes only increased the thirst of the public for a fairer democracy ultimately leading to the second reform act of 1867, which increased the size of the electorate to 2.5
The post-war period between 1945-70 was the period of the two-party dominance. Since the seventies the Labour and Conservative party power has remained unfazed in the British parliament, however this hold has loosened over time in the local governments and the popular base of the two party system has begun to wear off among the voters. Voting behaviour during the post war period was very easy to explain with people voting for either Labour or the Conservatives. This started a tradition and trend for the two party votes. During that time social class played a big influence in the way people would vote.
Seeing the contrast between how the poor and the rich were treated will give a clearer understanding of how much social class mattered. In chapter 27 when Joe comes to see Pip, he treats Joe in a different manner than before because Joe was now in a lower social class. His feelings about Joe's arrival were "Not with pleasure... I had the sharpest sensitiveness as to his being seen by Drummle." (p. 203).
Assess the significance of region, race and religion as factors explaining voting behaviour in the USA. Voting behaviour has absorbed a great deal of the time of both political parties in America. Much effort has been put into analysing voting behaviour and patterns in previous elections - be they national, state or local elections etc. - in an effort to predict their own voter base and those social groups they could concentrate their efforts on and those groups that would appear to be a lost cause and therefore a waste of time in terms of money spent and time invested in targeting as potential voters. Any comment about a social, religious or minority group can only be generalised when referring to its voting habits and so the following comments can only be taken as a generalisation.
It also means that generally we are governed by one party, which increases stability; for example, since 1900 there have only been three coalition governments in power. This also means we are represented by one set of policies rather than two different sets. However, the first-past-the-post system can be seen to distort the results, as the government in power will almost never have the majority of votes. For example, in the 2005 election Labour had 35.2% of the votes and they still won, because they had more seats than the other parties. Furthermore, the actual turnout was only 61.4%, so they were only representing around a third of the population.
The disparities of income between genders, race and social status can allow the opportunity of group forming. Income inequality can be reduced by improving the match between the supply and demand of skills. The factors that greatly contribute to the income inequality since 1970 are greater demand for highly skilled workers, demographic changes, international trade, immigration, and decrease in unionism. Since 1970 incomes have become exceedingly less equal. The demand for skill workers began to decrease due to the technology advances of the contemporary times.
Violence, obesity, children’s education, life expectancy, mental illness, teen births, trust- all are major problems for societies across the globe, and according to Wilkinson and Pickett, can be attributed to inequality. In their examination of developed countries, they found that inequality, rather than average income, is a far better indicator of wellbeing. Furthermore, the authors posited that nearly all problems that are more prevalent at the bottom of social hierarchies (many are aforementioned) are more common in unequal societies. They suggest that despite a nation’s apparent affluence, wealthy yet unequal nations are nonetheless “social failures” (18). Wilkinson and Pickett explore two of the most common assumptions about the social gradient that shows people at the bottom of social hierarchies suffer more problems- circumstances and individual tendencies.
As a result, a majority of Americans trusted the government most of the time in the 1950’s. However, in the 60’s and 70’s, America faced an unpopular Vietnam War, economic inflation, and the civil rights movement. In 1978, the University of Michigan released figures suggesting only approximately 25% of Americans still trusted the government most of
Due to the fact that Asian and other foreign textile manufacturers have been exported aggressively and consumer preferences are requiring higher-quality products with minimum defects, like other firms, Aurora tends to produce small amount of yarns produced with minimal period and provide to customized markets. Consequently, Aurora had decreased significantly its costs by reducing $3.9 million of SG&A expenses since 2000 and it was one reason of increasing operating profit and net earnings in 2002. Unfortunately, Aurora’s returned amount from retailers had been increased and the proportion of sales return of Aurora’s one plant named the Hunter reached 1.5% in 2002; thus, the firm’s income has not risen well. Figure 1 illustrates Aurora’s financial ratios by calculating given financial information through Exhibits 1, 2, and 6. The first, the company’s liquidity ratios-current ratio and quick ratio-had been increased smoothly for these four years.
He believes class is established through available life chances as well as the ownership of property and production. There are many qualities to consider when establishing status honor including: wealth, income, education, gender, ethnicity, age, and family lineage. A person lacks social honor if he is lacking any of these qualities or takes part in anything that is considered socially deviant or illegal. Lastly, political parties maintain a constant presence among the different social classes. Politics completely consumes many people in their constant struggle to acquire as much power as possible.