Do Ideological Differences Have Personal Correlates? A Study of Chilean Labor Leaders at the Local Level

Abstract

1. The Problem and Its Setting During the past few years, the role of ideology in the process of modernization has received considerable attention.' Agreement on a comprehensive explanation of the past and a plan for the future (i.e., ideological consensus) has been singled out as one of the cardinal aims of governing groups in the developing countries; and deep ideological divisions within any nation have generally been regarded as a serious obstacle to development. It is not the purpose of this paper to deny that groups with very different world views may engage in bitter struggles, or that the existence of these struggles (i.e., of ideological conflict) may be disastrous. The following study does, however, challenge the notion that men who differ in ideological persuasion necessarily differ also in personal background, current socioeconomic status, satisfaction with past or present status, faith in people, or even the goals which they envision for their interest associations. It might be expected that disagreement on an issue as seemingly basic as ideology would be mirrored in other personal differences among individuals, but such does not, in fact, seem to be the