ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews briefly a part of the story of decisive transformation—in terms of time, that which occurred from the Depression years up to the mid-1970s. It deals with regard to the shifting partisan alliances invokes a common observation about social change. At some point, the differences from earlier periods cannot properly be described simply as "more." A political transformation of unusual speed and scope took place in the United States during the 1930s. By the end of the 1930s a distinctive set of voting patterns and social group attachments had been firmly established. The "New Deal coalitions" had become a prominent and familiar part of the American political landscape. A realignment encompasses the movement of large numbers of voters across party lines, establishing a stable new majority coalition. In a dealignment, by way of contrast, old coalitional ties are disrupted, but this happens without some stable new configuration taking shape.
