Element contents
Series: Elements in Political Psychology
Stronger Issues, Weaker Predispositions
Abortion, Gay Rights, and Authoritarianism
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 09 December 2024
Summary
Political psychologists have long theorized that authoritarianism structures the positions people take on cultural issues and their party ties. Authoritarianism is durable; it resists the influence of other political judgments; and it is very impactful-in a word, it is strong. By contrast, researchers characterize the attitudes most people hold on most issues as unstable and ineffectual-in a word, weak. But what is true of most issues is not true of the issues that have driven America's long running culture war-abortion and gay rights. This Element demonstrates that moral issue attitudes are stronger than authoritarianism. With data from multiple sources over the period 1992-2020, it shows that (1) moral issue attitudes endure longer than authoritarianism; (2) moral issues predict change in authoritarianism; (3) authoritarianism does not systematically predict change in moral issues; and (4) moral issues have always played a much greater role structuring party ties than authoritarianism.
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- Information
- Series: Elements in Political PsychologyOnline ISBN: 9781009529303Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication: 16 January 2025
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