Self‐Interest Is Often a Major Determinant of Issue Attitudes

Reviewing political opinion patterns in the 1950s, The American Voter concluded that self‐interest played a key role in the public's views on social welfare policy. Since then, however, many researchers have argued that self‐interest has very little effect on issue opinions. We argue that the principal reason for this shift lies not in self‐interest coming to matter less, but, instead, because some scholars—by narrowing the definition of self‐interest, declaring ordinary demographic effects uninterpretable, and assuming that group interest is distinct from self‐interest—essentially defined out the possibility of self‐interest being a major determinant of political views. Yet even with these limiting moves, the general denial of self‐interest has come to include a long and growing list of exceptions. In addition, we find that many of the specific claims grounding the general denial are problematic. Thus, we argue that self‐interest remains a potent factor in the context of a number of issue opinions. Further, taking a broader view of human interests, we see self‐interest effects not only in economic opinions, but also in various cultural/social domains. For example, when it comes to individuals’ opinions on issues relating to meritocracy and discrimination, we find that levels of meritocratic competence are typically a key factor, along with racial, religious, and other relevant categories. Also, there are solid links among individuals’ sexual lifestyles, religiosity, and views on issues such as abortion and marijuana legalization. Not only are such domain‐specific relationships “major,” but self‐interest variables typically have more secure claims than individuals’ ideology, party, and values to being unambiguous “determinants” of issue opinions.