Basic Values, Ideological Self-Placement, and Voting: A Cross-Cultural Study

Gian Vittorio Caprara, Michele Vecchione*, Shalom H. Schwartz, Harald Schoen, Paul G. Bain, Jo Silvester, Jan Cieciuch, Vassilis Pavlopoulos, Gabriel Bianchi, Hasan Kirmanoglu, Cem Baslevent, Cătălin Mamali, Jorge Manzi, Miyuki Katayama, Tetyana Posnova, Carmen Tabernero, Claudio Torres, Markku Verkasalo, Jan Erik Lönnqvist, Eva VondrákováMaria Giovanna Caprara

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

72 Scopus citations

Abstract

The current study examines the contribution of left–right (or liberal–conservative) ideology to voting, as well as the extent to which basic values account for ideological orientation. Analyses were conducted in 16 countries from five continents (Europe, North America, South America, Asia, and Oceania), most of which have been neglected by previous studies. Results showed that left–right (or liberal–conservative) ideology predicted voting in all countries except Ukraine. Basic values exerted a considerable effect in predicting ideology in most countries, especially in established democracies such as Australia, Finland, Italy, United Kingdom, and Germany. Pattern of relations with the whole set of 10 values revealed that the critical trade-off underlying ideology is between values concerned with tolerance and protection for the welfare of all people (universalism) versus values concerned with preserving the social order and status quo (security). A noteworthy exception was found in European postcommunist countries, where relations of values with ideology were small (Poland) or near to zero (Ukraine, Slovakia).

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)388-411
Number of pages24
JournalCross-Cultural Research
Volume51
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Oct 2017

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2017, © 2017 SAGE Publications.

Keywords

  • basic values
  • ideology
  • left–right
  • political orientation
  • voting

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