Egalitarianism begins at home and in cohorts: Egalitarianism in United States public opinion, 1952--2000

This dissertation investigates the mechanisms involved in the formation, maintenance and change in the level of egalitarianism in the United States public during the second half of the 20th Century. This is an important topic in the study of American politics because egalitarianism is a core value and core values structure the policy attitudes of a public that, according to research, for the most part, does not follow politics closely and is often ambivalent about the political questions of the day. The two theories tested are the elite leadership theory and group identification and interest theory. Elite leadership theory predicts that on types of egalitarianism about which elites agree such as racial and gender egalitarianism and equal opportunity, exposure to elite discourse as measured by education, media exposure and political knowledge should predict these types of egalitarianism and group identity and interest theory explains the level of egalitarianism on types of egalitarianism about which elites disagree, such as equality in general and economic egalitarianism.; In order to balance broad coverage in time and quality and quantity of indicators, data are drawn from two sources: the Youth Parents Political Socialization Panel Study and the American National Election Study Cumulative File. Because egalitarianism is a latent variable, data are analyzed by structural equation modeling.; I find that both elite discourse and group identities and interests predict both kinds of egalitarianism. However, the family is an intervening variable and is one of the two strongest influences on egalitarianism. The other is the cohort or age group. The baby boomers, who were socialized during the 1960s and early 1970s, are the most egalitarian followed by Generation X. The generation who grew up during the New Deal and World War II is the next most egalitarian. The Post-World War II-1950s generation and the pre-New Deal generation are the least egalitarian. I interpret the cohort effect as the interaction of age group and history.; Implications are that because I find robust bottom up formation of all types of egalitarianism, the concern over elite manipulation of the mass public to support policies against its interests is exaggerated, except on the issue of economic interests. Here, the evidence for group interest is meager. However, because egalitarianism is so stable, this renders democratic deliberation difficult where value conflict is implicated, although often there are choices as to which values can frame issues.