The Nature of Norms and Belief Systems in Mass Publics

• In Event: The Role of Norms in Public Opinion and Political Behavior

Abstract

We design a survey experiment to elicit ideological identity-based normative beliefs about social and economic issues in the United States. Our design elicits normative beliefs – measures of the strength of belief that support for a given policy or social issue is socially appropriate in the eyes of members of one’s own identity group – using an incentivized game called a coordination game. We also ask the individual their personal support for the same set of policies and social issues. As we would expect from prior work, an individual’s ideological identity (liberal or conservative) is only loosely correlated with her stated personal preferences. However, there is a much stronger connection between that identity and her understanding of what is normatively correct. Most ideologues agree on what is expected of them by others like them most of the time. And, to the degree stated policy preferences are constrained by ideology, it tends to be this conformity pressure, more than moral commitment, which produces this constraint. These findings suggest a more important role for ideological identity in organizing an individual’s understanding of the political world than previously research that only considers the individual’s stated preferences.

Authors

• Erik O Kimbrough, Simon Fraser University

• Eric Groenendyk, University of Memphis

• Mark A. Pickup, Simon Fraser University