Effects of Gender, Education, Income, Social Rank, Financial Stress, and Shame on Beliefs About the Autonomy of One’s Opinions and Their Expression

Abstract

Abstract Individuals’ beliefs about their opinion-related tendencies should interest public opinion researchers for at least two reasons. First, these beliefs could influence opinion-related behaviors. Second, they are likely to indicate tendencies that transcend specific situations and pertain to a wide range of subjects for which opinions can be held. This study investigates the associations of demographic characteristics, material and social resources, and subjective experiences with the belief that one tends to develop independent opinions (i.e., opinion autonomy) and expresses one’s minority opinions (i.e., expressed autonomy). Effects are estimated through analyses of three waves of data collected from a sample of the U.S. adult population. Education, age, community rank, financial stress, and shame are revealed to have effects of similar magnitude on expressed autonomy and opinion autonomy. Gender is the only variable investigated associated with only one form of autonomy—expressed autonomy. The findings are interpreted through the lenses of identity and affect control theories. Processes related to maintaining authenticity, perceived self-worthiness, and confidence in oneself as an independent thinker and agent are theorized as underlying the results.