THE RELEVANCE OF PERSONALITY FOR POLITICAL PARTICIPATION

In: Public opinion quarterly: journal of the American Association for Public Opinion Research, Band 22, Heft 1, S. 3-10

Abstract

A consideration of the ways in which pol'al participation is influenced by external soc pressures, by internal personality requirements, & by their interaction. Soc sci'ts have tended to think in terms of the soc norms that shape behavior & allow only a limited variability. Personality is treated frequently as an aspect of deviance but not of conformity. The soc deterministic theories do not make use of an explicit personality theory. They often posit psychol'al processes such as: imitation, conditioning, & self-interest as mediating between soc pressure & individual behavior; but have ignored the processes involved in selection, org, & creation of ideas & modes of participation: the role of reason & imagination. In the rationalistic self-interest theories, it is assumed that pol'al behavior is determined by a realistic appraisal of an individual's group or personal interests. These theories do not account for the behavior not in accord with or antithetical to immediate interests & the diff's within a large group in the interpretation of its proper interests. The first requirement for any socio-psychol'al theory of pol'al participation (PP) is a conception of personality within which the individual's preferred modes of participation can be seen as intrinsic, functional components: personalogical as well as sociol'al & historical. The author's preference is to start from psychoanalytic theory & to regard the general development of a general pol'al orientation & of specific pol'al preferences as an external function of the ego. The ways in which the ego carries out its internal functions influences the individuals's selection, creation, & synthesis of modes of participation. 2 postulates are required by this formulation: (1) receptivity, the individual is most receptive to those pol'al forms that have the greatest functional value in meeting the requirements of the personality as a system; & (2) immanence, many of the personality characteristics that influence the individual's PP are directly reflected within it. Pol'al choice is affected from within not by the Z personality, but primarily by the particular facets of personality that are engaged at a given period of time. The relation between internal dynamics & PP is a 2-way process. Pol'al ideas & actions play their role in individual personality as in soc structure. The gradual acceptance of a new pol'al orientation depends in part on the individual's dynamics when the change began, & it may have reequilibrating effects on the dynamics. One's pol'al preferences will be most stable & satisfying when they are congruent with both inner & external requirements. 2 conditions probably increase the importance of intra-personal determinants: (a) a wide range of available (socially provided) alternatives, & (b) a high degree of personal involvement in pol'al issues. J. D. Twi rht.