British parliamentary ideology was coded on a five-point economic left-right scale

Evidence

Two types of information were used to classify political orientation: (a) party membership (Labour vs. Conservative) and (b) ratings of parliamentarians’ responses to a question concerning their views on the proper role of government in regulating the economy and providing social welfare (traditionally divisive issues in British politics). Coders in the Putnam research team rated politi-cians on a 5-point continuum in which 1 represented an extreme socialist position (support for state control of all major means of production), 2 a moderate socialist position (limited expansion of state control of the economy), 3 a centrist position (for the status quo), 4 a moderate conservative position (reduced state control of the economy), and 5 an extreme conservative position (minimal state control of the economy or classic market capitalism). We classified parliamentarians as extreme socialists if they were members of the Labour Party and favored state control of all major means of production, as moderate socialists if they were members of the Labour Party and favored limited expansion of state control of the economy or the status quo, as moderate conservatives if they were members of the Conservative Party and favored limited reduction of state control of the economy or the status quo and as extreme conservatives if they were members of the Conservative Party and favored virtually total dismantling of state control of the economy. According to these criteria, 12 parliamentarians were classified as extreme socialists, 41 as moderate socialists, 24 as moderate conservatives, and 12 as extreme conservatives. — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 2315