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Publication Detailed Description
Party polarization and citizens' left-right orientations
Journal Title
Party Politics
Year (definitive publication)
2008
Language
English
Country
United Kingdom
More Information
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Abstract
The article investigates the differences among West European countries in terms of the degree to which individuals' left-right self-placement is anchored in social, value and partisan factors. The study shows that clarity of party alternatives is much more important than political socialization in structuring citizens' left-right attitudes, i.e. the greater the clarity of party alternatives, the more structured the left-right orientations of citizens. As a first step in the investigation, the article seeks to show that the relative weights of social factors in explaining individual left-right self-placement, vis-à-vis values and partisan loyalties, are important, contrary to the poor results of previous studies.
Acknowledgements
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Keywords
Left–right attitudes,Party polarization,Western Europe
Fields of Science and Technology Classification
- Sociology - Social Sciences
- Political Science - Social Sciences
