Orthogonality between Liberalism and Conservatism

Summary Kerlinger's theory that liberal and conservative “criterial referents” are different and that liberalism and conservatism are hence unrelated is tested. Balanced scales containing only “conservative” referents and only “liberal” referents were constructed in the short “catchphrase” item format popularized by Wilson. There was some difficulty in deciding to which political group an item might most plausibly be a “referent.” The two scales actually produced were adequately reliable and correlated —.64. The sample was of Australian Army conscripts (N = 110). The results represent, then, a marked failure to replicate Kerlinger's findings. Radicalism and conservatism were found to be highly opposed.