ABSTRACT
Originally published in 1984, this book proposes a structural theory of social attitudes, presents the empirical evidence for the theory, and defines and explores liberalism and conservatism and the justification for associating social attitudes with these terms. The core ideas are that the structure of social attitudes, those sets of beliefs about social "objects" or referents shared by many or most people of a society, is basically dualistic rather than bipolar, and that the referents of social attitudes are differentially criterial to individuals and groups of individuals. The common belief that social attitudes are polarized, with liberal beliefs at once end of a continuum and conservative beliefs at the other end, is questioned. Instead, liberalism and conservatism are conceived as separate and independent sets of beliefs. The book will elaborate and explain these statements and bring evidence to bear on the empirical validity.
Preface. 1. Attitudes and "Attitude Man" 2. Liberalism and Conservatism 3. The Criterial Referents Theory of Attitudes 4. Methodology 5. The Measurement of Liberalism and Conservatism: A Review 6. Attitudes Toward Education 7. Social Attitude Statement and Referent Scales 8. The Structure of Social Attitude Referents: A Cross-Cultural Study 9. Social Attitudes Similarities and Differences in Four Western Countries 10. Analysis of Covariance Structure Tests of Duality and Bipolarity 11. The Research of Others 12. The Structure and Content of Social Attitudes: A Perspective. Appendix A: Factor Analysis. Appendix B: Social and Educational Attitude Scales. Appendix C: Response Set Research. References. Author Index. Subject Index.
