Mass Beliefs and Democratic Institutions
Research output: Contributions to collected editions/works › Contributions to collected editions/anthologies › Research › peer-review
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The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Politics. ed. / Carles Boix; Robert E. Goodin. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009. p. 297-316 (The Oxford Handbooks of Political Science).
Research output: Contributions to collected editions/works › Contributions to collected editions/anthologies › Research › peer-review
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TY - CHAP
T1 - Mass Beliefs and Democratic Institutions
AU - Welzel, Christian Peter
AU - Inglehart, Ronald
N1 - Publisher Copyright: © The Several Contributors 2007. All rights reserved.
PY - 2009/9/2
Y1 - 2009/9/2
N2 - 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.
AB - 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.
KW - Politics
KW - Gender and Diversity
KW - Aggregate level
KW - Democracy
KW - Individual-level findings
KW - Individualistic fallacy
KW - Mass beliefs
KW - Political culture studies
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84925003960&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/c4c67387-7e6b-3b0c-9edb-a6a1f9267000/
U2 - 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199566020.003.0013
DO - 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199566020.003.0013
M3 - Contributions to collected editions/anthologies
SN - 978-0199566020
SN - 019956602X
T3 - The Oxford Handbooks of Political Science
SP - 297
EP - 316
BT - The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Politics
A2 - Boix, Carles
A2 - Goodin, Robert E.
PB - Oxford University Press
CY - Oxford
ER -