The Constitution as Symbol: The Interpersonal Sources of Meaning of a Secondary Symbol

Harold Lasswell, among others, has noted that the vague, diffuse, and distant symbols of the secondary political world, such as the Constitution, are elaborated and take on personal meaning to the individual as a result of a process of displacement or projection of some image from the primary world. To examine whether such a process mediates between primary and secondary worlds, one subject was selected and asked to describe her images of 25 objects from both primary and secondary worlds by using an adjective Q sort. She was also asked to describe how each of these same 25 objects made her feel by using a second Q sort. The correlation and factor analysis of these data, plus lengthy intensive interviews with her, demonstrate how the Constitution as well as other aspects of her political world, take on personal meaning to her with respect to specific primary images.