Determinants of Moral Conservatism

Abstract

This chapter asks: How do the typology of states and the social attributes—the exogenous variables—affect the indexes of ideological moral conservatism? The best multilevel models of the effects on the measures of moral conservatism include both the typology of states and the social attributes. On average, lower HD has a stronger effect than income inequality. The interaction of the South and balanced states increases moral conservatism (the South is more conservative) and these social attributes have negative effects: postgraduate education, working-class consciousness, secular religious traditions, infrequent religious attendance, African Americans, women, singles, and urban residents. Most often, people with these attributes are moral liberals who align with the Democrats. Similar patterns characterize the components of the index of moral conservatism, doctrinal, gun-use, and life-paradox conservatism.