Ideology in america

olitical“liberals”alsoknowthis.Liberalsattackconservativepoliticians,butusuallynottheirconservatism.Theywillcalltheiropponents foolsorextremistsandgoaftertheirstandsonspecificissues.Butthey willnotsay“myopponentisaconservative”asameansofdisparagement.Conservativesplayupthepositiveimplicationsofa“conservative” approachtopolitics,but“liberals”donotdothesame.Theresult,ifthe mainstreammediaaretransmittingtheseconflictedcues,isthatcitizens whogettheirnewsfromthemainstreampresswillbeexposedtotheterm “conservative”moreoftenthantheterm“liberal”andwillheartheterm inamorepositivelightwhentheydohearit
eterm“conservative”isheldinfargreateresteemthanthe term“liberal”(Jennings1992,Schiffer2000).Thisispartlyaresultof thenow-pejorativeconnotationoftheword“liberal”inpolitics,aswe describedinChapter4.If“liberal”istomeansupportfortheundeserving poor,thecounterculture,andthosewhoseektoattackmainstreamsocial institutionsandvalues,thenpoliticalliberalswanttostayfarawayfrom thelabel.Andtheydo. Butitismorethanjustthetarringoftheliberallabel.Conservatism, asageneralvalueandasawordtodescribeacourseofaction,ispopular.Wehavealreadyseenitspopularityinreligionanditsapproaches tofamilylifeandbehavior.Butitgoeswellbeyondthat:“Conservative”intheAmericanpublicconnotespositivevaluesandapproachesno matterwhatthetopic.Weapproveconservativehypotheses,approveof banksthattakeaconservativeapproachtohandlingourmoney,andlike ourcontractorstogiveusconservativeestimates.Evenwelloutsidethe realmofpolitics,“conservative”hascometomeanconventional,safe, mainstream,comfortable. Politicalconservativesrecognizethis.Asaresult,whenframingtheir worldviewtothemasspublic,conservativestalkagreatdealaboutideologicalandpoliticalsymbols,thevalueofideologicalconservatism,and thewayinwhichthisgeneralvaluewillbeappliedtotacklingpolitical problems,doinglittletoexplaintheimplicationsofthisconservatism
forpracticalpolitics(Zaller&Feldman1992,Jacoby2000).Conservativesboastabouttheirconservatism,treatingitasabadgeofhonor. Onewaytoboastaboutconservatism,ofcourse,istotalkinnegative termsaboutthe“liberal”label,andinsymbolictermsaboutwhata “liberal”approachtogovernmentwillimply(biggovernment,bureaucraticcontrol,privilegingtheundeservingandunconventionaloverthe hardworkingandmainstream),andthelike. Political“liberals”alsoknowthis.Liberalsattackconservativepoliticians,butusuallynottheirconservatism.Theywillcalltheiropponents foolsorextremistsandgoaftertheirstandsonspecificissues.Butthey willnotsay“myopponentisaconservative”asameansofdisparagement.Conservativesplayupthepositiveim
plicationsofa“conservative” approachtopolitics,but“liberals”donotdothesame.Theresult,ifthe mainstreammediaaretransmittingtheseconflictedcues,isthatcitizens whogettheirnewsfromthemainstreampresswillbeexposedtotheterm “conservative”moreoftenthantheterm“liberal”andwillheartheterm inamorepositivelightwhentheydohearit. P. 157

deologicalself-identificationis usuallyformedasareactiontobroad,generalmessagesandconcepts (Conover&Feldman1981),notasumofpolicypreferences.Exceptfor thepoliticallysophisticated,opinionsonspecificissuesareoftenformed inresponsetofeelingsabouttheworthofthespecificsocialgoalin question,notasafunctionofabroaderworldview(Jacoby1995) p.160