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？那些认为自己的意识形态不一致的人，是否倾向于改变自己的意识形态身份或政策偏好，以调和这些矛盾？我的项目旨在调查个人的问题立场在多大程度上与他们自己描述的意识形态一致，以及这在不同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跟踪精英阶层的行为，以及个人是否更有可能在被证明相互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)的量化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群中如何因政治知识水平和党派之争而变化。如果意识形态的一致性水平较低，这可能会对民主的质量或政治教育的重要性产生影响。此外，通过考虑意识形态一致性如何跟踪精英阶层的行为，这可能会让我们对政治信息的影响有一些洞察。最后，这项研究可能有助于我们理解选举结果，因为我们考虑到意识形态冲突的个人如何将他们的立场和意识形态认同转化为选票选择和政党偏好。我的项目还将扩展之前的研究，具体考察个人层面的一致性，而不是国家层面的一致性，并将寻求评估哪些问题立场特别与自我描述的意识形态相矛盾，以及导致矛盾的政策问题是否在不同人群中有所不同。这项研究将寻求通过分析BES数据来解决的主要问题是，英国个人在多大程度上持有相互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，当个人被要求做出投票等政治决定时，这些不一致如何共存，或者这些不一致本身是否实际上可能是精英阶层的不一致所塑造的。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，该小组涵盖了多个重大政治事件，如选举、全民公投和领导层更迭。这一分析将探索精英阶层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，以探索当意识形态不一致被明确表明时，个人可能会如何改变他们的观点，这可能表明，如果一个人更容易与另一个人结盟，以实现意识形态的一致性，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.