Some Problems in the Measurement of Class Voting

The relationship between class and voting has been described using concept such as clas voting, political distinctiveness of classes, class distinctiveness of parties, and class solidarity. Measures of these concepts are shown to rely on the same independent information. The Alford index of class voting can be interpreted as a regression coeficient. A model is developed to analyze under what conditions the index of class voting is affected by different ways of classifying occupational groups. The Gini index of segregation in considered as an alternative measure of the relationship between class and voting. Empirical examples are discussed.