A Scale Analysis of Senators' Attitudes Toward Civil Rights

Abstract

S INCE THE END of World War II, the struggle to secure civil rights for Negroes has assumed increasing importance on the American political scene. The movement of southern Negroes to the North means that integration has become less of a sectional and more of a national issue. In terms used by Donald E. Stokes, civil rights represents an example of a issue, i.e., an issue which involves advocacy of government actions from a set of alternatives over which a distribution of voter preferences is defined. 1 On the basis of national sample survey data, V. O. Key reports that, of all contemporary problems, the issue of federal action to further school integration generates a bipolarized opinion of highest intensity.2 With the decline of conflict over New Deal policies after World War II, the issue of civil rights has become the dominant position issue of American politics. In view of this widespread disagreement on the value of integration, Guttman scale analysis represents an appropriate technique for assessing, in a relatively precise way, attitudes toward civil rights. Scale analysis assigns an individual a score somewhere between the two extremes of consistently favoring an issue and always opposing the issue. In a perfect Guttman scale, the items, or statements measuring an attitude, are cumulative. A person who responds favorably to an item also responds favorably to all items of higher rank. Likewise, anyone responding negatively to an item makes an unfavorable response to all items of lower rank. Statements forming a Guttman scale measure only one attitude. If the items fall into a fairly perfect cumulative scale pattern, they comprise a single core of meaning.3 Of all branches of government, the United States Congress has moved most slowly to secure the enforcement of integration. In 1960, however, Congress did approve a fairly comprehensive Civil Rights Act. By employing Guttman scaling procedures, we have measured senators' attitudes toward integration during the 1960 session. In this study, the issue of civil rights refers to federal government action to enforce political, economic, and social rights for Negroes, e.g., the right to vote,