The Structure of Political Ideology Varies Between and Within People: Implications for Theories About Ideology's Causes

E-ISSN： 1943-2798|35|4|395-414

ISSN： 0278-016X

Source： Social Cognition, Vol.35, Iss.4, 2017-08, pp. : 395-414

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Abstract

Prominent theories about the link between threat and political ideology are grounded on two assumptions. First, popular threat and ideology theories assume that people typically use the liberal–conservative continuum as their ideological framework. Second, theorists construe ideology as characterized by intraindividual homogeneity (individuals are identified as inhabiting one deeply ingrained position on the liberal–conservative continuum that shapes their positions across issues). Working from these assumptions, theories posit that people's responses to threat causally influence their deeply ingrained liberal–conservative political ideology. In this review, we question these assumptions. We describe evidence that the structure of ideology varies between people (i.e., some people use the liberal–conservative continuum and some use other ideological frameworks) and within individuals across issues (e.g., a person may use the liberal–conservative continuum for some issues but other ideological frameworks for other issues). Theories about ideology's causes must account for the meaningful between- and within-person variability in ideology.