Values and politics: Value priorities as predictors of psychological and instrumental political engagement
Abstract
Compared to personality traits and attitudes, human values and their influence on political behavior have not received sufficient attention in political and social psychology. This study sought to contribute to the field of values research by examining to which extent values influence various modes of political engagement, specifically, attention paid to the coverage of politics in media, overall civic engagement, and participation in electoral and community activities. The hypothesized relationships were examined using structural equation modeling. Results of the study suggest that relationship between the values, social factors and political engagement is best described by the model with value priorities, and socio-economic and socio-demographic factors as direct predictors of political engagement. Values were found to be better predictors of specific engagement modes, than of overall civic and psychological political engagement. In addition, different values were found to predict different engagement modes. In particular, engagement in electoral activities was positively influenced by Self-Direction and Universalism values, The engagement in community activities was positively influenced by Conformity-Tradition values. Power and Achievement values had a negative influence on both engagement modes and overall instrumental civic engagement.
Subject Area
Social psychology|Political science
Recommended Citation
Augemberg, Konstantin, "Values and politics: Value priorities as predictors of psychological and instrumental political engagement" (2008). ETD Collection for Fordham University. AAI3301430.
https://research.library.fordham.edu/dissertations/AAI3301430
