Abstract
Although previous studies have concluded that, in comparative terms, Portuguese citizens exhibit low levels of social, value and partisan left-right attitude anchoring, the truth is that the items used in these studies are rather limited. Moreover, the meaning attributed by voters to each ideological camp was never studied. This study seeks to overcome these limitations. The article reiterates that in a comparative perspective, Portugal does exhibit low levels of left-right attitude anchoring. This is the point of departure of the article and also, it is argued, a good reason to try to further understand this case and extract from it inferences about similar cases. One of this study's major findings is that the meanings attributed to the left-right divide are not clear and structured; moreover, this lack of clarity is positively correlated with low levels of media exposure, education and left-right self-placement. Although the article tests hypotheses about how different groups (manual workers versus other social classes; older versus younger cohorts; post-materialists versus other value groups) might give different meanings to the left-right divide, the major finding is that media exposure and education are in any case the crucial factors explaining the more or less structured meanings for ideological conflicts.
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Notes
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Please note that the factors that determine the differences between Portugal (along with Austria, Belgium and Ireland) and the majority of the West European countries analysed in Table 1 are above all the lower level of anchoring of individual left-right self-placement on social factors, partisan loyalties and value orientations, especially the latter element. The differences are of strength not direction of the relationships (see Freire, 2008).
We used the following standard question (like in EVS 1999) to measure materialist and post-materialist value orientations ‘There is a lot of talk these days about what the aims of this country should be for the next ten years. If you had to choose, which of the things would you say is most important? And which would be the next most important? (First Choice and Second Choice) Maintaining order in the nation; Giving people more say in important government decisions; Fighting rising prices; Protecting freedom of speech; Don’t know; No answer’.
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Freire, A., Belchior, A. What left and right means to Portuguese citizens. Comp Eur Polit 9, 145–167 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1057/cep.2009.14
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/cep.2009.14