The Politics of Identity and Democratic Values

Stanford University, Stanford CA

Investigators

Abstract

This award is an Accomplishment Based Renewal and allows the principal investigator to continue a very productive stream of research on the general problem of prejudice and politics in Western Europe. The researcher has conducted three large-scale general population public opinion surveys, one in Italy, one in the Netherlands, and one in France. The surveys are uniquely cumulative in design. The Dutch study was expressly designed to respond to theoretical and methodological questions in the measurement of cultural and economic sources of prejudice raised by the Italian study. The French study was expressly designed to extend the Dutch analysis of the political consequences of intolerance. The first extension of this research concentrates on the Dutch study and focuses on the contemporary strains over multiculturalism. It focuses particularly on three strands: the clash over group interests, the concern over national identity, and conflicts over values built-in to modern liberal democratic societies. It aims to show both how these three sources of strain are tied together, yet nonetheless have distinct political consequences. The second study, which concentrates on the French investigation, focuses on democratic values under strain. Using a new generation of experiments imbedded in opinion interviews, it explores in a way not previously possible the willingness of citizens to abandon or qualify their commitment to democratic values in the face of different forms of political and social pressure. The third study, which takes advantage of virtually all the data sets collected by the investigator, focuses on a theory of political choice. As an alternative to the standard "bottom up" approach, it aims to develop an explicitly political "top down" perspective, emphasizing the role of strategic political actors and institutions in structuring the party system and thereby the alternatives on offer to the general public. The investigator has made numerous outstanding contributions to social and behavioral science literature on the topic of prejudice and politics in Western Europe. His contributions have substantially enhanced our understanding of the topic and this current award allows the investigator to pursue further high quality research opportunities via the Accomplishment Based Renewal mechanism.