Mass Beliefs and Democratic Institutions
Research output: Contributions to collected editions/works › Contributions to collected editions/anthologies › Research › peer-review
Authors
This article summarizes why political culture studies have been hesitant to analyze the aggregate effect of mass beliefs on democracy. It determines that this has much to do with the widespread assumption that the impact of mass beliefs on democracy can be inferred from individual-level findings. It also illustrates that this assumption actually represents an ‘individualistic fallacy’. It considers an argument that the impact of mass beliefs on democracy can only be analyzed at the aggregate level, because democracy only exists at this level. The article ends with a report of the findings from recent studies, which show that mass beliefs have indeed an aggregate effect on the emergence and survival of democracy.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Politics |
| Editors | Carles Boix, Robert E. Goodin |
| Number of pages | 20 |
| Place of Publication | Oxford |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press |
| Publication date | 02.09.2009 |
| Pages | 297-316 |
| ISBN (print) | 978-0199566020, 019956602X |
| ISBN (electronic) | 9780191577482 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 02.09.2009 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:
© The Several Contributors 2007. All rights reserved.
- Politics
- Gender and Diversity
- Aggregate level, Democracy, Individual-level findings, Individualistic fallacy, Mass beliefs, Political culture studies