MEASURING LEFT-RIGHT AND LIBERTARIAN AUTHORITARIAN VALUES IN THE BRITISH ELECTORATE

Butler and Stokes' authoritative analysis of the British electorate co ncluded that in general voters' political attitudes were poorly formed and, in consequence, unstable and inconsistent. This paper re-examine s this question by developing and evaluating multiple-item scales of t wo core dimensions of mass political beliefs: left-right and libertari an-authoritarian values. The scales are shown to have respectable leve ls of internal consistency, high levels of stability over a one-year p eriod, and to be useful predictors of support for political parties. I n these respects they compare favourably with other commonly used indi cators of political attitudes, values and ideology (left-right self-pl acement, postmaterialism and attitudes to nationalization). This super iority applies across different levels of political involvement. Contr ary to the conclusions of earlier research into mass political ideolog y in Britain, therefore, it is contended that in general the electorat e has meaningful political beliefs. Moreover, as the scales developed in this research form part of the British and Northern Irish Social At titudes Series and recent British Election Studies, they provide an im portant resource for further studies of political culture in the UK.