Politics

Voting Behaviour

Research suggests that whilst membership of mainstream political parties has decreased in recent years, participation in other ways has increased – namely involvement in pressure groups and new social movements. One interesting trend has been a recent one in terms of Labour Party membership. Students could begin by researching the ‘Jeremy Corbyn effect’, What were the figures for Labour Party membership before the election of Jeremy Corbyn as leader? What were they afterwards? How does this compare with other political parties? Some background reading for staff could be the following article:

Learn More More than 15,000 join Labour party

Psephologists are people who study patterns and trends in voting behaviour. This is done not only for the purpose of Sociological research but also for the purpose of composing campaign strategies and persuasion tactics for members of the public.


Students could work in groups to investigate the patterns and trends in the 1997 General Election and the 2015 General Election. What reasons can they identify for the patterns in voting behaviour that they identify?

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