ABSTRACT
This chapter concentrates on John Goldthorpe’s work on the Affluent Worker study, in particular on the volume The Affluent Worker: Political Attitudes and Behaviour (Goldthorpe et al., 1968b). While Goldthorpe’s more recent work on class also makes important contributions to political sociology, the Affluent Worker study remains of considerable interest and deserves a fresh look. It was very influential at the time it was published (see the commentaries by Banks, 1969; Westergaard, 1970; Mackenzie, 1974), particularly in developing a sociological as opposed to a narrowly psephological approach to the study of political partisanship. It contains the seeds of much of Goldthorpe’s later work on class and mobility; and the themes it dealt with have once again become highly relevant to our understanding of political change in Britain.
