Partisan and Ideological Belief Systems: Do They Differ?

In: Political behavior, Band 7, Heft 2, S. 147-166

Abstract

The cognitive content of ideological & partisan belief systems was analyzed using a 2-part quasi-experiment involving political science students at the State U of New York, Stony Brook, in 1982/83. Ss (N = 108 initially, & 108 different Ss in a replication 9 months later), after being randomly assigned to either a liberal-conservative or Democrat-Republican condition, used category rating & magnitude scaling techniques to judge political leaders, groups, & issues. Results indicate that the meanings of partisan & ideological belief systems are quite similar; their cognitive attributes (leaders, groups, & issues) are interchangeable at the categorical level & highly correlated in their degree of typicality. Political sophistication contributes significantly to the degree to which these belief systems are related; ie, for highly sophisticated Ss, they are highly related, while only moderately so for low sophisticates. Sophistication also contributes to the structuring of Ss' own issue preferences, with high sophisticates in both conditions exhibiting a greater level of issue constraint (either partisan or ideological). 3 Tables, 3 Figures, 29 References. Modified HA