Dimensions of Ideology: A Review of Social-Psychological Literature

In social psychological literature, ideology is typically conceived as a relatively stable and organized set of general orientations that include interrelated attitudes grouped according to various sources of constraint, such as psychological disposition, general values, or ideological traditions. The paper reviews social-psychological literature on the organization of social attitudes. Research on this topic started nearly eight decades ago, inspired by the research on the structure of intellectual abilities. Since then, a large body of literature has been generated, which has not been systematically reviewed. Despite the long tradition, this literature has not resulted in proportional cumulative scientific development. The review should help improving this situation by listing the relevant studies, examining the research methodology and the main findings. The review ends with the critical summary of the man findings and methodological problems, and recommendations for the future research

Dimensions of Ideology: A Review of Social-Psychological Literature

In social psychological literature, ideology is typically conceived as a relatively stable and organized set of general orientations that include interrelated attitudes grouped according to various sources of constraint, such as psychological disposition, general values, or ideological traditions. The paper reviews social-psychological literature on the organization of social attitudes. Research on this topic started nearly eight decades ago, inspired by the research on the structure of intellectual abilities. Since then, a large body of literature has been generated, which has not been systematically reviewed. Despite the long tradition, this literature has not resulted in proportional cumulative scientific development. The review should help improving this situation by listing the relevant studies, examining the research methodology and the main findings. The review ends with the critical summary of the man findings and methodological problems, and recommendations for the future research

Partisan heart and/or rational mind?: Party identification, political knowledge and electoral turnout

Cilj ovog rada je analiza odnosa između pozitivne i negativne identifikacije sa strankom i političkog znanja, kao i njihovih međuodnosa u pogledu izborne izlaznosti. Korišćeni su podaci iz ispitivanja javnog mnjenja u Srbiji posle izbora 2012. na nacionalno reprezentativnom probabilističkom uzorku građana (N=1568). Podaci su pokazali da je političko znanje značajno i pozitivno povezano i sa pozitivnom i sa negativnom identifikacijom sa strankom. Veću verovatnoću da će glasati imaju građani koji imaju više političkog znanja i koji imaju pozitivnu identifikaciju sa strankom. Međutim, pokazalo se da uticaj političkog znanja na izbornu izlaznost moderira samo pozitivna identifikacija sa strankom. Političko znanje značajno predviđa izlaznost samo u grupi građana bez pozitivne identifikacije sa strankom. Negativna identifikacija sa strankom ne menja odnos političkog znanja i izlaznosti. Rezultati su razmatrani u terminima Mičigen modela identifikacije sa strankom i teze kognitivne mobilizacije. Uloge afektivne i kognitivne motivacije u izbornom učešću su dodatno naglašene i razmatrane.This paper aims at analysing the relationship between positive and negative party identification and political knowledge, as well as their interplay in regard to electoral turnout. The data from the Serbian 2012 post-election public opinion survey on the nationally representative probability-based sample of voting age citizens were used (N = 1568). The data show that political knowledge is significantly and positively correlated both with positive and negative party identification. Citizens who are more knowledgeable and positively identified are also more likely to vote. However, it is shown that the influence of political knowledge on electoral turnout is moderated only by positive party identification. Political knowledge significantly predicts turnout only in the group of citizens without positive party identification. Being negatively identified with a political party does not modify the relationship between political knowledge and turnout. The results are discussed in terms of the Michigan model of party identification and cognitive mobilisation thesis. The roles of affective and cognitive motivation in electoral participation are additionally stressed and debated

On improbable carrots: Serbian citizens between Kosovo and the elusive EU membership

Membership in the EU is sometimes presented as a reward for Serbia’s eventual acknowledgement of Kosovo’s independence. Although membership in the EU has been a strategic goal of Serbian foreign policy, the EU is often perceived as working against Serbian national interests regarding Kosovo’s status. Relying on the cognitive dissonance theory, we hypothesize that in addition to a direct negative association between the support for Serbia’s territorial integrity and the EU membership, there is also an interactive effect: the association should be moderated by one’s opinion on when and whether Serbia will become a member of the EU. These hypotheses are examined using public opinion data based on a large national sample of adult Serbian citizens. The results support the interaction hypothesis: the attitude that Kosovo should remain part of Serbia is a stronger predictor of the (negative) evaluation of the EU among those respondents who do not believe that Serbia will become an EU member in the future

Dimensions of nationalism: structure of nationalist attitudes in two cities in Hungary and Serbia

Nationalism is often described as internally homogenous, unidimensional, and stable ideology, distinctively specific for certain groups (nations), as expressed in the familiar distinction between the 'Eastern' and 'Western' nationalism. The paper critically examines to what extent such generalizations are theoretically and empirically justified. The empirical analysis deals with the comparison of the number, content, and interrelationships of nationalist attitude dimensions, based on samples from Hungary (Szeged) and Serbia (Subotica). The results show that nationalist attitudes are multidimensional, and that the number and content of the dimensions varies in two countries. In the Serbian sample, the dimensions of romantic nationalism and ethnocentric nationalism tend to converge into a single nationalist-ethnocentric dimension. National attitudes in Hungary can be described along three dimensions: national discrimination, romantic nationalism, and national 'closedness'. The implications of the obtained results for theorizing nationalism are also discussed

Religiosity and attitudes towards joining international organizations (EU and NATO) in Serbia

Serbian citizens are known for their meager enthusiasm, compared to those from neighboring countries, for joining international organizations such as EU and NATO. Various explanations of this tendency have been offered in literature. In this paper, we examine the religious basis for the opposition to joining the EU and NATO among Serbian citizens. The study is based on a public opinion survey of a national representative sample, conducted after the 2012 presidential and parliamentary elections. The survey included two indicators of religious orientation: the frequency of attending religious services and self-reported degree of religiosity. Attitude towards the EU and NATO were examined by questions asking about the respondent’s vote in case of a referendum about joining each of these two organizations. The results provide evidence that religiosity is associated with lower support for joining the EU and NATO, although the relationships is of modest magnitude

Structure of Ideology. Evidence from Serbia

The paper contributes to the research on the structure of socio-political attitudes through an analysis of survey data from Serbia. The main problem tackles two research traditions: one dealing with the existence of stable political attitudes and ideological orientations among the mass public, and the other dealing with the dimensionality of political attitudes or ideology. The analysis revealed a complex hierarchical organization of political attitudes. First-order factor analysis resulted in 15 attitudinal dimensions including nationalism, militarism, and traditionalism. The second-order factors resulted in 4 general ideological dimensions, labeled as the socialist conservatism, right-wing conservatism, social order and hierarchy orientation, and post-materialist orientation. The results are discussed with reference to the literature on hierarchical organization of political attitudes

Structure of Political Attitudes. A Literature Review

The paper reviews social-psychological literature on the organization of social attitudes, or the structure of ideology. Research on this topic started nearly eight decades ago, inspired by the research on the structure of intellectual abilities. Since then, a large body of literature has been generated, which has not been systematically reviewed. Despite the long tradition, this literature has not resulted in proportional cumulative scientific development. It is hoped that this paper may help in this regard by listing the relevant studies, examining the research methodology and the main findings. The review ends with the critical summary of the main findings and methodological problems, and recommendations for the future research

Failed promises of modernization: Temporal trends in religiosity, postmaterialism and Ethno-nationalist attitudes in the Netherlands

The process of modernization is understood to imply changing tends in prevalence of certain value orientations. Theoretical accounts dealing with the processes of global value changes include notions such as secularization, modernization, and postmaterialist value shift, among others. The paper analyzes trends in prevalence of thee basic value or ideological orientations: religiosity, postmaterialism and nationalist attitudes. The classical theories of value transformation imply decrease in religiosity and nationalist orientations, and increase in post-materialism. The problem is examined using data the Dutch Parliamentary Election Studies (DPES). The Netherlands is an especially appropriate case to address these problems. The trend of the initial sharp secularization and then persisting religious cleavage is particularly clearly outlined here. The Dutch have also been found to be among the most postmaterialist nations. Finally, the new trend of anti-immigrant politics has also been early and very vividly expressed in the Netherlands, indicating the importance of nationalist attitudes. The main findings indicate that modernization and ‘post-modernization’ theories are imperfect explanations for the observed trends in values. Decrease in religiosity is observed only for some indicators, while trends in nationalist and post-materialist orientations do not follow the expected course

Social, psychological and ideological roots of nationalist attitudes in Serbia

Individual differences in nationalist attitudes have been approached from a variety of perspectives. In the sociological tradition, nationalist attitudes are seen as specific for certain socio-demographic categories, typically those indicative of socio-economic and cultural deprivation. Psychological literature typically places stronger emphasis on dispositional constructs. Researchers studying the structure of social attitudes emphasize the importance of general ideological orientations. This paper examines to what extent the aforementioned approaches contribute to understanding nationalist attitudes in Serbia. The research is based on a random sample of adult residents of Belgrade. According to hierarchical regression analysis results, the sociodemographic variables explain about 19 percent of variance in nationalist attitudes. The model improves significantly when the dispositional variables are added (explaining 44 percent of variance in total), as well as the ideological variables (68 percent of variance in total). The results showed that ideological variables are proximal factors that mediate the influence of psychological dispositions and social factors. Authoritarianism proved to be the key dispositional variable. The paper concludes that a more complex model is superior in comparison with simpler models, limited by disciplinary conventions