Professional Politicians and Personality Structures

An abbreviated version of the Rockeach Dogmatism Scale was administered to a random sample of Italian parliamentarians and to a quota sample of Italian "non-politicians." Findings substantiate the research hypotesis that professional politicians are characterized by personality structures which are more dogmatic than those of non-politicians, and suggest further that distinctions in terms of such personality structures can be made even more precisely on the basis of political ideology and political party affiliation. Significant relationships are found also between various degrees of religious practice and dogmatism. Variations are explained in terms of fundamental political ideology and methods of political recruitment. Theoretical significance for the functioning of political systems is discussed.