| While research demonstrates liberal/conservative self-identification to be a meaningful identity, moderate self-identification is viewed as relatively meaningless. This description is more likely the result of lack of study of moderates, rather than a careful study of the meaning of "moderate." The focus of the present study is to determine whether or not identification with the label "moderate" represents a group identification. This project represents the first formal exploration into the psychological foundations of moderate self identification. This project asks the following very basic question: To what extent does self-categorization as a moderate represent psychological meaningful group identification?In order to answer this question, I use social identity theory to study moderate self categorization. This paper also uses original measures to study the content of the meaning of "moderate." I find that moderate does represent a self-identification, and that there is a distinct pattern of meaning for the category. |
