No More Learning

(odd) (even) include only the three groups taking the total form since the (A) and (B) halves of the split form do not correspond to the odd and even halves of the total form.
E (Chapter IV), suggesting that the level of conservatism is higher than the level of ethnocentrism. Again, the rank order of group means on PEC tends to follow that on E, with the Service Club Men being significantly more con- servative (beyond the 1 per cent level) than the combined university groups. These facts would lead us to expect a significant correlation between PEC and E (see Section C). While the Service Club Men are quite conservative on the average (mean of 4. 4), the lowest score being 1. 6, this group can by no means be considered ideologically homogeneous; indeed, it shows about the same degree of internal variability (range and S. D. ) as do the other groups. We are given another warning against stereotypy in thinking about groups and about group memberships as determinants of ideology. This is not to
say that service clubs are not "conservative groups" in terms of actual policy. Rather, it would appear that group policy and leadership, in this case
? 166 THE AUTHORIT ARIAN PERSONALITY
at least, reflect the average degree of conservatism, the conservative tradition, and frequently the immediate business interests of the group. However, to say that such-and-such is a conservative group, in terms of actual policy, is not necessarily to imply that all members are strongly conservative. Simi- larly, not all individuals who call themselves "New Deal Democrats" are thoroughly liberal in their personal ideologies; not all Catholics support the political program of the policy-makers of the Catholic Church; and so on. This is one of the main problems in bringing together the psychological and the sociological approaches; it is an especially great problem for that theory of social psychology which regards the individual adult as merely
a product or sum of his various group memberships.
The data on item analysis are presented in Table 6(V). The over-all D.
P. of 2. 08 is almost identical with that of 2. I4 on the initial PEC scale, as might be expected from the similar reliabilities. The best items deal for the most part with government functioning; ownership of utilities, controls over business, limitations on income. Item 4 (Unions) worked out relatively well (rank order 6) despite its having the highest over-all mean, 5? 35; even in the university groups the mean did not fall below 5. o. Item I5 (Wallace) came out similarly; it had the third best D. P. despite a mean of 5. 00. Other items with D. P. 's of over 2. 0 include 13 (American Way), 54 (Poverty), and 56 (Ford and Morgan).
The five poorest items are also of some interest. Three of these, 20 (Artists, businessmen), 27 (Political candidate), and 6o (Charity), are reformulations of poor items in Form 78. Almost none of these subjects disagreed with the idea that the artist and professor are as important as the businessmen, al- though the liberals agreed more emphatically than the conservatives (the difference being statistically significant only in the Service Club Men). The D. P. of 1. 06 on Item 27, while statistically significant, indicates considerable overlap between the high and low quartiles. Further exploratory research is required in order to determine possible differences between liberals and conservatives with respect to underlying imagery of "the good political candidate. " Item 48 (Depressions) is an example of not leaving well enough alone. In the initial form this item had a D. P. rank of 4. 5; in this form, after drastic revision, its rank was I2. Both the mean and D. P. on Item 26 (Dan- gerous to cooperate with Russia) are somewhat surprising. The mean of 2. 57 indicates that very few individuals agreed with this item. The D. P. of 1. 60 is more significant than it at first appears, because of the low mean, but it shows that even conservatives were divided on the Russian issue at the close of the war. This is shown most dramatically by the Service Club Men who,
although strongly conservative on most domestic issues, obtained on the Russian item a mean of 2. 5 I and a D. P. of ? 93? How and why slight support has, within less than two years, changed to bitter antagonism, is a problem beyond the scope of the present study.
? No.
I t e m
(Unions) 5. 43
Mean
D. P .
Mean
D. P . Mean
D. P . . . . . . .
4.
2. 65 4. 43 3. 54 4. 15 1. 97
5. 06 2. 64 4. 81 2. 26 4. 91 2. 22 4. 72 2. 64 1. 22 0. 38 2. 54 1. 47 3. 30 0. 34 4. 74 1. 98 4. 72 3. 72 4. 93 2. 77 2. 76 0. 85 3. 63 2. 02 3. 22 2. 12 2. 87 1. 73
1. 60 2. 94 3. 08 2. 33 0. 14 1. 52 1. 19 3. 42
5. 65 5. 87 4. 68 5. 84 1. 87 2. 51 3. 21 5. 56
2. 76 5? . 35 2. 82 4. 88 2. 16 4. 38 2. 51 5. 00 1. 15 1. 44 0. 93 2. 57 1. 99 3. 49 2. 12 5. 00 2. 99 4. 74
9. 13. 15. 20. 26. 27? .
(Gov't. controls)
(American Way)
(Wallace) 4. 79 (Artists and professors)
(Russia)
(Political candidate)
($25,000/yr. )
(Gov? t. and jobs)
2. 89 (2) 2. 36 (7) 2. 62 (3)
0 z 0
31. 37. 43. 48. 54. 56. 60.
2. 44 (5)
C)
(Utilities) (Depress ions) (Poverty) (Ford, Morgan) (Charity)
4. 61 3. 48 3. 09 1. 30 4. 21 1. 86 3. 00 1. 75 2. 47 0. 91
5. 82 3. 23 4. 41 1. 94 4. 31 2. 38 3. 34 3. 13 2. 88 2. 22
2. 61 (4) 4. 96 3. 36 (1)
~
Mean per item
3. 72 2. 16
3. 82 1. 94
3. 77 1. 91
4. 40 2.
31
~
aGroup I: Group II: Group III: Group IV:
University of Oregon Student Women (N =47)
University of Oregon and University of California Student Women (N =~) University of Oregon and University of California Student Men (N =57) Oregon Service Club Men (N =68)
l""::
TABLE 6 (V)
MEAI\5 AND DISCRIMINATCRY PORERS '"d
Group I Mean D . P .
Group II Mean D . P .
Group III
Group IV
OVer-allb
t"'
1. 17
2. 94
4. 00
4. 51
4. 21 2. 46 4. 47 3. 94 2. 87 1. 90 4. 02 2. 69 2. '77 1. 13 2. 38 1. 54
0. 41 (14) . . . . . .
3. 00 0. 03 2. 49 0. 74 2. 22
. . . . . .
bin obtaining the over-all means, the individual group means were not weighted by N.
. . . . .
5. 26
4. 39
3. 77
4. 65
1. 51
2. 30
3. 44
5. 17
4. 67 1. 27 5. 38
(")
D. P . Rank
2. 41 (6) l""::
t:;l 1. 60 (10. 5) l""::
1. 06 (13) t"' 0
3. 28 1. 50 (12) C)
::tl 4. 04 2. 24 (8) 0
q 3. 08 2. 03 (9) '"d
2. 65 1. 60 (10. 5) 3. 92 2. 08
~
0
. . . . . . . . . ,
(")
0
I
~
(")
0
><
t:;l
l""::
1::0
::tl
"II':
. . . . . .
'"d "'
"
0'1
? 168 THE AUTHORITARIA~ PERSONALITY
These groups are more consen'ati\'e on specific issues than the over-all scale mean of 3. 92 indicates. The over-all means on the items (4, 9, r5, 31, 37, 43) dealing with unions, business, and government functions range from 4? 74 to 5? 35, and these items are also the most discriminating. It would appear, then, that with regard to what is most definitive in liberalism and conserva- tism-mainly ideas regarding power relations among labor, business, and gov- ernment-the liberal position is as yet less crystallized and less militantly held than is the conservative position. There is some question as to how far these results can be generalized beyond the present sample. 5 They are, however, in general accord with numerous other findings and observations regarding the contemporary political scene. What is more difficult, and also more im- portant, to gauge is the psychological potential for future ideological de- velopment in various directions in the face of changing political and economic conditions. Perhaps the other components of political ideology, when sys-
tematically measured and psychologically understood, would provide a basis for the solution of this problem.
4. THE THIRD PEC SCALE (FORMS 45 AND 40)
The construction of Forms 45 and 40 was, as has been discussed in the previous chapter, influenced greatly by considerations of practicality and of administrative expediency. In view of these considerations, and in order to make room for the inclusion of other material, the PEC scale was cut literally to the bone. It was identical in both forms of the questionnaire and contained only five items-not enough to obtain an adequate measure of re- liability, and hardly enough to be called a "scale. " The reasoning behind the use of a five-item E scale was discussed and criticized in Chapter IV; the same criticisms apply to the present PEC scale. It appears now that it would have been wiser to have used a ro-item form; the short form used did, how- ever, make possible the comparison of various groups and the study of rela- tionships between this scale and the others.
The Form 45-40 PEC scale is presented in Table 7(V). It will be seen that the five items were not selected solely on statistical grounds; rather an attempt was made to include items whose D. P. 's were above a minimal level and, more important, which covered as many as possible of the ideological trends previously discussed. The first four items are taken, with occasional slight revisions, from Form 6o. Item 17 (Economic security), has a history of transiency; originally in the Form 78 PEC scale, it was moved to the F scale in Form 6o (see Chapter VII); it has been returned to PEC in an attempt to rid the F scale of all items which might be connected fairly directly with
5 The representativeness of this sample with respect to political pany and other group memberships will be considered later in this chapter (Section E). That the university groups are not unusually conservative is suggested by the fact that E-scale means are rela- tively low in comparison with other middle-class groups (see Chapter IV). Their PEC means can be compared with those for the groups taking Forms 45 and 40, below.
? POLITICO-ECONOMIC IDEOLOGY AND GROUP MEMBERSHIPS 169
TABLE 7 (V)
THE THIRD FoRM oF THE PoLITico-EcoNoMIC CoNsERVATISM (PEC) ScALE (FoRMs 45-40)
3-" Labor unions should become stronger and have more influence generally. 7? America may not be perfect, but the American Way has brought us about
as close as human beings can get to a perfect society.
I I. " Most government controls over business should be continued even though
the war is over.
I4- Men like Henry Ford or J. P. Morgan, who overcame all competition on
the road to success, are models for all young people to admire and imitate. I7. In general, full economic security is bad; most men wouldn't work if they
didn't need the money for eating and living.
? These items are "liberal," the others are "conservative. " A high score is given for agree- ment with the conservative items, disagreement with the liberal items.
existing ideologies regarding politico-economic or minority groups. Item I 7, as well as several others, might be included in any of several scales; proper placement must ultimately be based on statistical analysis.
Forms 45 and 40 were administered late in I945 and in the first part of 1946. The sampling methods and problems, as well as the composition of the groups and their combination for statistical purposes, have been discussed in Chapter IV. It will suffice here to list the groups comprising this sample.
The Form 45 sample contains four groups: (a) Extension Testing Class (adult) Women (N =59) at the University of California; (b) San Quentin Men (N = no), inmates at the California State Prison; (c) and (d) Psychi- atric Clinic Women (N = 7I) and Men (N = so), mostly outpatients at a community clinic in San Francisco.
The following groups are included in the Form 40 sample: (e) George Washington University Women (N = qz), members of day and evening classes in psychology; (f) California Service Club Men (N = 63), obtained at luncheon meetings of San Francisco Bay Area Kiwanis and Rotary clubs;
(g) and (h) Middle-Class Men (N = 69) and W omen (N = I54), mem- bers of various local groups such as church, P. T. A. , women's clubs, etc. ; (i) and (j) Working-Class Men (N = 6I) and Women (N =53), mem- bers of local groups such as United Electrical Workers Union, Warehouse- men's Union (1. L. W. U. ), California Labor School, etc. ; (k) and (I) Los Angeles Men (N = I I 7) and Women (N = qo), a heterogeneous but largely middle-class sample of various local groups in Los Angeles. Data on some of the subgroupings within these statistical units will be considered
in Section E, below.
In addition, there were two groups which were given both Forms 45 and
40. First, the School for Merchant Marine Officers (to be referred to as "Maritime School") (N = 343), half of which was given Form 45, the other half Form 40, the two halves being equated for intelligence (AGCT), time in school, and planned function as officer (deck or engine). Second, veterans
? I]O
THE AUTHORITARIAN PERSONALITY
TABlE 8 (V)
MEANS AND STANDARD DEVIATIONS OF PEC SCAlE SCORES FOR GROUPS TAKING FORMS 45 AND 40
Group
a. Groups taking Form 45 Extension Testing Class
N
Mean Rank S. D.
4. 33 (4) 1. 28 4. 68a (2} 0. 96 4. 12 (11) 1. 53 4. 14a (10) 1. 40
Mean EA
3. 77 5. 33 4. 23 3. 92
4. 31
4. 04
4. 31 3. 89 3. 64 3. 92 3. 91 3. 82 3. 71
3. 91
4. 95
4. 43 4. 69
4. 13
Rank
(12)
(1)
(5) (7. 5)
(6)
(4) (10) (14) (7. 5) (9) (11) (13)
(2)
(3)
Women 59
San Quentin Men Psychiatric Clinic Women Psychiatric Clinic Men
110
71
50 Over-allb 290
4. 32
4. 30
4. 83 4. 30 4. 26 3. 39 3. 25 3. 91
Los Angeles Women
Over-allb 779 4. 05
1. 29
(6. 5) 1. 13
(1) 1. 31 (6. 5) 1. 52 (8) 1. 62 (13) 1. 58 ( 14) 1. 53 (12) 1. 49
b. Groups taking Form 40 George Washington
University Women 132 California Service Club
Men 63
Middle-Class Men Middle-Class Women Working-Class Men W orking-Glass Women Los Angeles Men
69 154 61 53 117
c. Groups taking both forms Maritime School Men
Form 45
Form 40
Employment Service Men V eterans
179 4. 31) 164 4. 32)
( 5 )
Form 45 Form 40
4.