Ideology in America

This book explains why the American public thinks of itself as conservative, but supports liberal positions on specific policy matters.

Christopher Ellis (Author), James A. Stimson (Author)

9781107019034, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 16 April 2012

224 pages, 37 b/w illus. 31 tables
23.5 x 15.7 x 1.5 cm, 0.43 kg

“This is a compelling book on an interesting and important topic. Ellis and Stimson provide a driving analysis of seemingly every facet of the match and mismatch between people’s policy preferences and ideological identification in America. Predictably strong on social science, the book also is accessible, readable, and engaging. Ideology in America is as good as it gets.”
—Christopher Wlezien, Temple University

Public opinion in the United States contains a paradox. The American public is symbolically conservative: it cherishes the symbols of conservatism and is more likely to identify as conservative than as liberal. Yet at the same time, it is operationally liberal, wanting government to do and spend more to solve a variety of social problems. This book focuses on understanding this contradiction. It argues that both facets of public opinion are real and lasting, not artifacts of the survey context or isolated to particular points in time. By exploring the ideological attitudes of the American public as a whole, and the seemingly conflicted choices of individual citizens, it explains the foundations of this paradox. The keys to understanding this large-scale contradiction, and to thinking about its consequences, are found in Americans' attitudes with respect to religion and culture and in the frames in which elite actors describe policy issues.

1. The meaning of ideology in America
2. Operational ideology: data
3. Operational ideology: the estimates
4. Ideological self-identification
5. The operational-symbolic disconnect
6. Conservatism as social identity
7. Conflicted conservatism
8. Ideology and outcomes.

Subject Areas: Public opinion & polls [JPVK], Media studies [JFD], Communication studies [GTC]