The structure of mass political belief systems: A network approach to understanding the Left-Right spectrum

Philip Converse, one of the most influential political scientists of the twentieth century, argued that mass belief systems were comprised of networks of highly intercorrelated propositions among ideological voters but less so in non-ideological voters. We used recent advances in network psychometrics to test this model in a representative sample of 2,058 adults living in the UK, who placed themselves on the left-right dimension and then reported their attitudes toward 18 different political issues. As Converse had predicted, the networks of those at either end of the left-right continuum were significantly more interconnected than the networks of those who placed themselves in the center. We identified three communities of beliefs corresponding to traditional definitions of right-wing authoritarianism, interpersonal liberalism (focused on society), and intrapersonal liberalism (focused on the individual). Importantly, these clusters did not match common one- or two-factor liberal-conservative solutions. Consistent with the literature, child- rearing preferences were positively associated with the authoritarian community while negatively associated with both interpersonal and intrapersonal liberalism. Interestingly, attitudes towards gay rights had the highest predictability index and was the most central node in the Right and Center belief systems, suggesting that attitudes toward same- sex couples play a particularly important role in ideological positioning.