Group Identification, Values, and the Nature of Political Beliefs

What determines the political beliefs people hold? In this article, we investigate the role ofvalues and group identifications in structuring political beliefs. Viewing both as aspects of self-identity, we use Q methodology to discover overall patterns of personal and political values, and group identifications. We find that distinctive patterns of both elements of self-identity are identifiable, and that values and group identifications are interrelated. Furthermore, both have a substantial effect on issue positions that are independent of party and ideological self-identification.