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One of the most familiar theories about politics in Australia, as in Britain, is that the political parties are divided fundamentally on class lines. But the strength and nature of the link between class and party remains both controversial and unclear. This paper brings new evidence to bear by applying powerful multivariate techniques to national sample survey data from Australia, Britain and the USA. We distinguish three separate aspects of class: the categorical distinction between blue- and white-collar workers which informs the standard definition of class in political science; an occupational status aspect which ranks jobs on a continuum running from low to high; and conflict aspects, based on 'ownership of the means of production', on the 'exercise of authority in the workplace', and the cleavage between public and private employees. We show, first, that these quite distract aspects of class have different effects. In Australia occupational status has important effects on income and class self-image but is politically irrelevant. The much maligned blue-collar/white-collar distinction is, indeed, financially irrelevant but, none the less, has appreciable effects on class self-image and political preferences, while the conflict aspects have modest but dear effects on income, class self-image and politics. Whether or not an individual is a public employee is consistently important in all three countries. Second, the impact of class on party is relatively modest, albeit cler. Finally, these patterns are quite similar in Australia, Britain and the USA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Butler and Stokes' authoritative analysis of the British electorate concluded that in general voters' political attitudes were poorly formed and, in consequence, unstable and inconsistent. 'This paper re-examines this question by developing and evaluating multiple-item scales of two core dimensions of mass political beliefs: left-right and libertarian-authoritarian values. The scales are shown to have respectable levels of internal consistency, high levels of stability over a one-year period, and to be useful predictors of support for political parties. In these respects they compare favourably with other commonly used indicators of political attitudes, values and ideology (left-right self-placement, post-materialism and attitudes to nationalization). This superiority applies across different levels of political involvement. Contrary to the conclusions of earlier research into mass political ideology in Britain, therefore, it is contended that in general the electorate has meaningful political beliefs. Moreover, as the scales developed in this research form part of the British and Northern Irish Social Attitudes Series and recent British Election Studies, they provide an important resource for further studies of political culture in the UK. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]