Ideologies are defined by how they weight freedom versus equality

Evidence

Tetlock (1983a) offered a theoretical model of the relation between cognitive style and ideology that addresses this key issue. The model draws on Rokeach’s (1973, 1979) twovalue analysis of political ideology as well as Abelson’s (1959) work on modes of resolving cognitive inconsistency. Following Rokeach (1973), the model assumes that the major ideological movements of the 20th century—communism, democratic socialism, laissez-faire or conservative capitalism, and fascism—vary in the importance they attach to the basic and often conflicting values of individual freedom and social equality. Briefly, laissez-faire capitalists and democratic socialists value freedom highly, whereas communists and fascists do not. In contrast, communists and democratic socialists value equality highly, but capitalists and fascists do not. — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 2288 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Twentieth-century ideologies differ in valuing individual freedom versus social equality. — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 2288; Whites sustain equality-in-principle while delegitimizing redistributive measures as a coherent ideology — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology: Key Readings, 3339; The eighteenth century equated individuality with freedom and assumed natural human equality — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 650

Broader Connections

• Twentieth-century ideologies differ in valuing individual freedom versus social equality. #expands (0.95) — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 2288