Introduction
For the majority of citizens, elections represent a rare opportunity to directly shape the political, social, and economic world that we all inhabit. But what are the forces that influence how they use that opportunity? Where do citizens get their political attitudes from? Why has political and social polarisation increased in the past decade? Why do voters in Scotland and Wales think differently to voters in England? This course seeks to provide some answers to these questions.
This module will introduce students to the main elements of electoral politics and electoral behaviour in the UK, and examine how elections are studied. The module will first provide an overview of the history of elections in the UK and examine major ‘macro’ influences on election outcomes, such as party and electoral systems. The focus will then shift to examining ‘individual-level’ understandings of elections, by exploring the formation of public opinion and theories of individual voting behaviour. Finally, we will focus on how elections are studied and the implications of this for our understanding of voting and vote choice.