The Structure of Sociopolitical Attitudes in South Africa

Abstract

Research on the structure of sociopolitical attitudes has uncovered three models of structure in diverse populations: unidimensional, multidimensional and orthogonal, and a fuzzy set of intercorrelated dimensions. The cross-cultural stability of the dimensions of sociopolitical attitudes, as well as the degree of association between the dimensions, was examined in a South African sample of students from three population groups. The results support the fuzzy set thesis and suggest both similarities and differences between the structure of ideological attitudes in South Africa and other Western democracies. These findings lead to questions about the validity of the assumption that personality functions as the sole structural agent; they suggest that attitudinal structure may also be influenced by situational and ideological factors and group status.