Political Interest, Political Information Search, and Ideological Homogeneity as a Function of Sociopolitical Ideology: A Tale of Three Theories

Abstract

The relative plausibilities of three theories concerning the relationship between sociopolitical ideology and certain personality variables were examined using 783 Swedish high school students: authoritarian personality theory, extremism theory, and context theory. The three theories were compared by examining degree of information search and interest in politics as a function of sociopolitical ideology and ideological homogeneity as a function of parental educational level. The main results showed that: (1) The relationships between degree of information search and political interest on the one hand, and sociopolitical ideology on the other, were primarily curvilinear indicating greater interest in politics and greater information search for both “left” and “right extremists” as compared to moderates on a number of ideological dimensions. (2) Subjects with well-educated parents were more ideologically heterogeneous than subjects with poorly educated parents. These differences were more marked for males than for females. The results were most consistent with context theory.