A functional democratic society rests on the premise that the mass public holds clear preferences for policies, candidates, and more. To arrive at these preferences, many citizens rely on their social identities, making political decisions based on what they see as benefitting the groups to which they belong. They may also structure their attitudes and preferences around a set of core values—broad beliefs about what is good or desirable. Both principles may act as important guides for political evaluations, including among people with relatively little political sophistication. The link between group identities and values, however, remains underexplored, as does their simultaneous impact on mass political attitudes. In this dissertation, I investigate, first, the value priorities expressed by different social groups in the United States, attending to a variety of politically salient identity dimensions: race, gender, class, religion, and party. I find significant value divisions, particularly between politically dominant and subordinate groups. Perhaps more importantly, I also provide evidence that the public perceives far greater value differences than exist in reality (e.g., they exaggerate the gap in whites’ versus nonwhites’ endorsements of equality). I further demonstrate that these (mis)perceptions hold powerful implications for intergroup relations, coalition-building, and beliefs about the nature of democratic representation. My dissertation thus identifies a novel basis for intergroup conflict and cooperation, in the form of groups’ fundamental belief systems, as well as perceptions of those belief systems. This work further demonstrates that scholars who look to understand the political dynamics of identities and values should not consider either phenomenon in isolation.

Creator

• Howat, Adam

DOI

• https://doi.org/10.21985/n2-y59x-ds85

Subject

• Social psychology
• Political science

Language

• en

Alternate Identifier

• etdadmin_upload_682262
• http://dissertations.umi.com/northwestern:14780

Date created

• 2019-01-01

Resource type

• Dissertation

Rights statement

• In Copyright