Psychology and the Political Experience

In this book, originally published in 1975, Dr Alan Hughes explores issues in the method of political psychology and the rather elusive concept of alienation as a sentiment, presenting a scale for the measurement of alienation as well as scales for measuring authoritarian personality tendency and ethnic bigotry. These scales are used to clarify the origin and nature of ethnic prejudice, particularly anti-Semitism. In presenting fresh research techniques and substantive discoveries, Dr Hughes show how survey data may be analysed to identify structures in political attitudes, for example varieties of radicalism, and the intricate bearing of disposition on individual political experience. A central argument is that political issues 'cluster' in such a way as to make nonsense of the notion of a single Left-Right dimension. This book is not confined to statistical analysis. Its aim is to combine reliable 'hard data' with case-studies which are both illustrative and suggestive and which put individuals under a spotlight. The strength of this work is largely to be found in its vivid depiction of the political mind at work.