Ideological labels function as identity markers more than coherent belief systems.

Evidence

Conover and Feldman (Reading 11) argued that ideological labels like liberal and conservative have symbolic, identity-based meanings, even if they lack philosophical coherence or fail to define opposite poles on a single dimension. To the extent that people identify with certain political groups, they also have positive or negative associations to other groups, such as capitalists or police officers or marijuana smokers or members of disadvantaged groups. Conover and Feldman found that people who identify with conservatives differ from liberals primarily in that they are more favorable toward groups that exemplify the status quo, groups that foster social control, and groups that are probusiness. — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 126

Categorization

• XREF: Reinforces the identity-over-ideology finding familiar from social identity theory and from contemporary American polarization commentary. — connects to: Religious ideological orientation now predicts political views better than denomination or party — Andrew L. Whitehead; Samuel L. Perry, Taking America Back for God, 173; Ideology operates through belief about what others believe — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk: The Collected and Unpublished…, 1733; Tribal political beliefs function as identity markers validated by repetition, not evidence — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying: The New…, 126
• SEED: Angle: an essay on ‘ideology as tribal affiliation’ — how policy positions are downstream of group loyalty rather than doctrine.