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Political Ideologies and Support for Censorship: Is It a Question of Whose Ox Is Being Gored?
Author(s) -
Fisher Randy,
Lilie Stuart,
Evans Clarice,
Hollon Greg,
Sands Mary,
Depaul Dawn,
Brady Christine,
Lindbom David,
Judd Dawn,
Miller Michelle,
Hultgren Tim
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
journal of applied social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.822
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1559-1816
pISSN - 0021-9029
DOI - 10.1111/j.1559-1816.1999.tb02047.x
Subject(s) - censorship , ideology , politics , social psychology , psychology , political science , law
Two studies are described. one of 381 university students and the other a statewide survey of 295 adults, both of which examine the relationship between attitudinal support for censorship and political ideologies. The results of these studies are interpreted as challenging the view of Suedfeld, Steel, and Schmidt (1994) that support for censorship is a function of both the works in question and the political ideologies of the respondents. In both studies we find that support for censorship is somewhat consistent across messages and images of differing political content. and that support for censorship is generally greater among those with conservative political attitudes, regardless of the content of the works in question. A model of political attitudes (Maddox & Lilie. 1986) that conceptualizes American political idcologies as consisting of two relatively independent dimensions, rather than a single left‐right dimension. is proposed as a more effective means of conceptualizing this issue.