Stability and Change in Political Conservatism Following the Global Financial Crisis. (January 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Milojev, Petar; Greaves, Lara; Osborne, Danny; Sibley, Chris G.
• Is Part Of: Personality & social psychology bulletin. Volume 41:Number 1(2015:Jan.)
• Page Start: 127
• Page End: 139
• Publication Date: 2015-01
• Subjects: ideological stability and change -- latent growth models -- panel study -- Bayesian estimation -- political orientation -- economic recession; Personality -- Periodicals; Social psychology -- Periodicals; 302
• DOI: 10.1177/0146167214559710
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0146-1672

Abstract

The current study analyzes data from a national probability panel sample of New Zealanders ( N = 5, 091) to examine stability and change in political orientation over four consecutive yearly assessments (2009-2012) following the 2007/2008 global financial crisis. Bayesian Latent Growth Modeling identified systematic variation in the growth trajectory of conservatism that was predicted by age and socio-economic status. Younger people (ages 25-45) did not change in their political orientation. Older people, however, became more conservative over time. Likewise, people with lower socio-economic status showed a marked increase in political conservatism. In addition, tests of rank-order stability showed that age had a cubic relationship with the stability of political orientation over our four annual assessments. Our findings provide strong support for System Justification Theory by showing that increases in conservatism in the wake of the recent global financial crisis occurred primarily among the poorest and most disadvantaged.