Open versus Closed
Personality, Identity, and the Politics of Redistribution

This book reconceptualizes how deep-seated personality traits shape citizens' attitudes toward economic redistribution, and what it means for American democracy.

Christopher D. Johnston (Author), Howard G. Lavine (Author), Christopher M. Federico (Author)

9781107120464, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 17 February 2017

298 pages, 37 b/w illus. 41 tables
23.6 x 15.8 x 2.1 cm, 0.54 kg

'Open Versus Closed is certain to have a major impact on the field. Not only do Johnston, Lavine, and Federico comprise a veritable all-star team of co-authors, their book embodies the best features of political psychology. It doesn't give short shrift to the political in its exploration of the psychological. Instead the emphasis on the psychological allows them to solve an important political puzzle about attitudes toward redistribution that no one else has been able to crack.' Marc J. Hetherington, Vanderbilt University, Tennessee

Debates over redistribution, social insurance, and market regulation are central to American politics. Why do some citizens prefer a large role for government in the economic life of the nation while others wish to limit its reach? In Open versus Closed, the authors argue that these preferences are not always what they seem. They show how deep-seated personality traits underpinning the culture wars over race, immigration, law and order, sexuality, gender roles, and religion shape how citizens think about economics, binding cultural and economic inclinations together in unexpected ways. Integrating insights from both psychology and political science - and twenty years of observational and experimental data - the authors reveal the deeper motivations driving attitudes toward government. They find that for politically active citizens these attitudes are not driven by self-interest, but by a desire to express the traits and cultural commitments that define their identities.

List of tables
List of figures
Acknowledgements
1. Personality and the foundations of economic preferences
2. The psychology of ideology
3. A dual-pathway model of openness and economic preferences
4. Testing the reversal hypothesis
5. Openness and partisan-ideological sorting
6. Openness and elite influence
7. Political engagement and self-interest
8. Personality and American democracy
Appendices
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Public opinion & polls [JPVK], Political ideologies [JPF], Politics & government [JP]