Politics and Society

Abstract

The authors resolve a theoretical puzzle that characterizes the political preferences of members of social groups by (a) demonstrating that political homogeneity is a variable to be explained, (b) detailing how political discussions and shared attachments to political parties strongly influence its probability and arguing that political uniformity requires reinforcement and negotiation, (c) noting that the relatively low levels of shared policy preferences and political values are hardly influenced by any of the explanatory variables offered, and (d) presenting an alternative set of principles that accounts for these sometimes coherent and sometimes incoherent patterns. Finally, the authors address general themes in political analysis: the formation of political cultures and the relationship between theory and evidence in political science, themes at the heart of Harry Eckstein's contributions to theory in political science.