Showing papers by "Donald R. Kinder published in 2009"

Myrdal's Prediction

Abstract: In An American Dilemma: The Negro Problem and Modern Democracy, Gunnar Myrdal (1944) argued that white Americans were caught in a dilemma, torn between their commitment to noble democratic principles—what Myrdal called the American Creed—on the one side, and their belief in the superiority of the white race, on the other. Myrdal was certain that in the struggle between democratic principles and race prejudice, the former would prevail. Prejudice, Myrdal famously predicted, was about to disappear. Acknowledging the considerable progress that has taken place in American race relations over the past 60 years, we show that on this particular point Myrdal was wrong. Contrary to his prediction, prejudice has not disappeared; nor has its political significance diminished. Prejudice remains and its importance for politics depends, today as in Myrdal's time, on political circumstance: on the vicissitudes of history and the actions of leaders.

The Nature of Ideological Identification in Mass Publics Part II: Formation and Consolidation

Abstract: Ideological identification, the inclination of citizens to describe themselves as liberals or as conservatives, has become a fixture in the behavioral analysis of politics. Here we take up a pair of questions that the voluminous literature on ideological identification has largely overlooked. How do Americans decide on an ideological identity? And how tightly do Americans hang onto an ideological identification, once they have chosen one? We conclude, in the first place, that ideological choice is a product of a combination of influences: the ideological predilections of parents; membership in social groups, especially those defined by race, region, and religion; and (for the class of 1965) immersion in the ideologically lop-sided institution of higher education. We conclude, in the second place, that Americans generally do not cling tenaciously to an ideological identification. From early adulthood to late middle-age, Americans display modest stability in their ideological self-descriptions. These results both clarify the nature of ideological identification and move us closer to an accommodation between empirical results on ideological identification, on the one hand, and the broad claim of ideological innocence, on the other.