Investigating Individual-Level Conflict Between Ideology and Issue Positions in the UK

当个人描述自己的意识形态时，这在多大程度上准确地反映了政策偏好？看到自己意识形态不一致的个人是否倾向于改变自己的意识形态认同或政策偏好，以调和这些矛盾？我的项目旨在调查个人在问题上的立场与他们自我描述的意识形态在多大程度上是一致的，以及这在个人之间是如何变化的。我还将探讨意识形态的不一致是否会影响精英阶层的行为，以及个人是否更有可能在他们被证明是矛盾的地方改变他们的问题观点或意识形态。我计划通过对英国选举研究（BES）的定量分析以及我自己的调查实验来完成这项研究。这项研究将有助于我们理解选民之间的意识形态一致性，以及这种一致性在人口中如何随着政治知识和党派关系的水平而变化。如果意识形态的一致性水平较低，这可能会影响民主的质量或政治教育的重要性。此外，考虑到意识形态的一致性如何影响精英阶层的行为，这可能会让我们对政治信息的影响有所了解。最后，这项研究可以帮助我们理解选举结果，因为我们考虑了意识形态冲突的个体如何将他们的立场和意识形态认同转化为投票选择和政党偏好。我的项目还将扩展先前的研究，具体着眼于个人层面的一致性，而不是国家层面，并将寻求评估哪些问题立场与自我描述的意识形态特别矛盾，以及引起矛盾的政策问题是否因人口而异。本研究将通过对BES数据的分析寻求解决的主要问题是，英国个人在多大程度上持有矛盾的问题立场和意识形态认同。一旦意识形态的不一致被发现，问题仍然是，当个人被要求做出政治决定（如投票）时，这些不一致是如何共存的，或者不一致本身是否实际上是由精英阶层的不一致造成的。我将通过对英国选举研究的互联网小组的分析来解决这个问题，该研究涵盖了多个重要的政治事件，如选举、公投和领导层更迭。这一分析将探讨精英层面的政治对个人层面意识形态转变的影响，因此意识形态一致性的潜在转变将变得清晰。我还计划进行一项调查实验，探索当意识形态的不一致性被明确地表达出来时，个体是如何改变他们的观点的，这可能会证明，如果一个人更容易为了实现意识形态的一致性而与另一个人保持一致，那么意识形态标签或问题立场对个人来说是否更重要。

When individuals describe their own ideology, how well does this accurately reflect policy preferences? Are individuals that see inconsistencies in their own ideology inclined to shift their ideological identity or policy preferences to reconcile these contradictions? My project aims to investigate the extent to which individuals' issue positions are (in)consistent with their own self-described ideology, and how this varies across individuals. I will also explore whether ideological inconsistencies track elite-level behaviour, and if individuals would be more likely to shift their issue opinions or their ideology where they are shown to be contradictory. I plan to complete this research using a quantitative analysis of the British Election Study (BES) as well as my own survey experiment.This research will contribute to our understandings of ideological coherency among voters, as well as how this varies within the population by levels of political knowledge and partisanship. If levels of ideological coherency are low, this may have implications for the quality of democracy or the importance of political education. Additionally, by considering how ideological consistency tracks elite-level behaviour, this may give some insight into the impact of political messaging. Finally, this research may help us to understand electoral outcomes, as we consider how ideologically-conflicted individuals convert their positions and ideological identity into vote choices and party preferences. My project will also expand on previous research by looking at specifically individual-level consistency rather than at the country-level, and will seek to assess which issue positions particularly contradict with selfdescribed ideology, and whether the policy issues causing contradictions vary across the population.The primary question this research will seek to address through an analysis of BES data is to what extent individuals in the UK hold contradictory issue positions and ideological identities. Once ideological inconsistency has been uncovered, the question remains as to how these coexist when individuals are required to make political decisions such as voting, or whether the inconsistencies themselves may in fact be shaped by inconsistencies at the elite-level. I will address this through an analysis of the internet panel of the British Election Study which covers multiple significant political events such as elections, referenda, and leadership changes. This analysis will explore the influence of elite-level politics on individual-level ideological shifts, and therefore potential shifts in ideological consistency, will become clear. I also plan to carry out a survey experiment to explore how individuals may shift their views when ideological inconsistencies are made explicitly clear, and this may demonstrate whether ideological labels or issue positions are of more importance to individuals if one is more easily moved to align with the other in order to achieve ideological consistency.