Ideological Constraint Analysis
Ideological constraint analysis measures the degree to which an individual's or a public's political attitudes hang together in a coherent, predictable structure, the extent to which knowing a person's position on one issue lets you predict their positions on others. Introduced by Converse (1964) as the defining feature of a belief system, it is assessed through inter-item correlations, factor/latent-dimension models, and constraint indices.
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Sources
- Converse, P. E. (1964). The nature of belief systems in mass publics. In D. E. Apter (Ed.), Ideology and Discontent (pp. 206-261). New York: Free Press. ISBN: 9780029006702
- Baldassarri, D., & Gelman, A. (2008). Partisans without constraint: Political polarization and trends in American public opinion. American Journal of Sociology, 114(2), 408-446. DOI: 10.1086/590649 ↗
How to cite this page
ScholarGate. (2026, June 22). Ideological Constraint and Belief System Analysis. ScholarGate. https://scholargate.app/en/political-psychology/ideological-constraint-analysis
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