GRID-GROUP THEORY AND POLITICAL-IDEOLOGY - A CONSIDERATION OF THEIR RELATIVE STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES FOR EXPLAINING THE STRUCTURE OF MASS BELIEF SYSTEMS

The primary purpose of this paper is to introduce an alternative, grid -group theory, to the conventional liberal-conservative continuum for understanding the structure of mass belief systems. We also examine th e potential advantages of this alternative in explaining preference fo rmation with a series of exploratory empirical comparisons of the rela tive strengths and weaknesses of grid-group theory and the conventiona l measure of political ideology. While certain data limitations make o ur results tentative, we conclude that political ideology retains the advantage of parsimony as the single most powerful predictor of mass a ttitudes across a range of social and economic issues. But grid-group theory allows us to unpack distinct social logics that are conflated i n a unidimensional model. These logics not only tell us more about the bases for persons' attitudes, they offer an explanation for the shift ing structure of political conflicts and coalitions. Thus grid-group t heory helps us explain who holds which 'core values' and why.