REGIONAL DIFFERENCES IN CLASS DEALIGNMENT - A COMMENT

In a recent article in this journal, Johnston and Pattie argue that th ere are regional differences in class polarization within Britain and that these differences have changed over the last 30 years. They claim that class polarization has remained fairly strong in the north, but has declined dramatically in the south, so that regional differences i n class polarization are greater than they were in the 1960s. Like Joh nston and Pattie, we use log-linear and related models to analyse data from the British Election Surveys, but we come to very different-almo st opposite-conclusions. We find that class polarization has declined in Wales and possibly Scotland, but has shown little or no trend in En gland. The hypothesis that class dealignment has been most rapid in th e south is decisively rejected. Regional differences in class polariza tion are now smaller than they were in the 1960s. Reasons for the diff erences in conclusions are discussed.