Attitude networks as intergroup realities: Using network-modelling to research attitude-identity relationships in polarized political contexts

Abstract

We apply a newly developed attitude network-modelling technique (Response-Item Network, or ResIN) to study attitude–identity relationships in the context of hot–button issues that polarize the current US-American electorate. The properties of the network–method allow us to simultaneously depict differences in the structural organization of attitudes between groups and to explore the relevance of organized attitude–systems for group identity management. Individuals based on a sample of US-American crowd workers (N = 396) and the representative 2020 ANES data set (N = 8280), we model an attitude network with two conflictive partisan belief-systems. In the first step, we demonstrate that the structural properties of the attitude-network provide substantial information about latent partisan identities, thereby revealing which attitudes ‘belong’ to specific groups. In a second step, we evaluate the potential of attitudes to communicate identity-relevant information. Results from a vignette study suggest that people rely on their mental representations of attitude-identity links to structure and evaluate their social environment. By highlighting functional interdependences between (macro level) attitude structures and identity management, the presented findings help advancing the understanding of attitude-identity dynamics and socio-political cleavages.