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Political talk and the stability and consistency of political orientation
Author(s) -
Lalljee Mansur,
Evans Geoffrey
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
british journal of social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.855
H-Index - 98
eISSN - 2044-8309
pISSN - 0144-6665
DOI - 10.1111/j.2044-8309.1998.tb01165.x
Subject(s) - politics , biology and political orientation , authoritarianism , social psychology , political stability , psychology , consistency (knowledge bases) , interpersonal communication , homogeneity (statistics) , political science , law , statistics , democracy , mathematics , geometry
This paper investigates the relationship between talk and political orientation. Two indices of talk are considered: frequency (the extent to which a person talks politics) and discussant homogeneity (whether the person(s) with whom they talk politics support the same party as they do). Two aspects of political orientation are examined: party identification (viz. the party to which the person feels closest) and political attitudes (along the left–right and libertarian–authoritarian dimensions). It is hypothesized that the frequency of political talk will be related to the stability and consistency of a person's political attitudes and to the stability of their party identification. It is also expected that discussant homogeneity will be related to the stability of party identification and to the stability of political attitudes. The data were drawn from a panel study which used a stratified national sample of over 200 respondents interviewed in 1985 and 1986. The results show that frequency of talk is closely related to the consistency of political attitudes; and also related to the stability of political orientation. Discussant homogeneity is clearly related to the stability of party identification but not to attitudinal stability. The results offer general support for the ideas presented which emphasized the importance of talk as a way of expressing a person's political identity and the interpersonal processes involved in its maintenance.