This is a book of outstanding academic and political importance. It reveals the changing relationship between social class and party support over recent decades and brings out the far-reaching implications for British political life in the post-Brexit era.
John Goldthorpe, Fellow, Nuffield College, University of Oxford.
In a masterly analysis of long-term social and political change in Britain, Evans and Tilley show that people's class position still influences their values - but that this class divide is now little reflected at the ballot box. Their findings leave us pondering whether social democratic parties like Labour can successfully adapt to a world in which the university graduate is coming to be more commonplace than the manual worker.
John Curtice, Professor of Politics, University of Strathclyde.
This book challenges the prevailing view that class politics in Britain is no more. It provides an important corrective to conventional wisdom regarding the decline of class, and a vital contribution to understanding the falling turnout of the working class.
Jan Leighley, Professor of Political Science, American University.
This book demonstrates that class politics is alive in Britain, but has taken on a new shape. The size and make-up of classes have changed, yet their distinctive preferences remain. It is the strategic reactions of office-seeking parties to these changes in class proportions, above all that of the Labour Party, that explain why classes have realigned their partisan affiliations. Splendidly captured through the lens of British politics, this book more generally illustrates the core political dynamics of post-industrial democratic capitalism.
Herbert Kitschelt, George V. Allen Professor of International Relations, Duke University.