Abstract
This research is devoted to a methodological study of interrelations among varieties of involvement in political issues, utilizing data designed and gathered in the context of the Israel election campaign for the Seventh Knesset in 1969.
The observations on political involvement were defined by means of a mapping sentence. The interrelations were studied by calculating a weak monotonicity coefficient between each pair of variables. This correlation matrix was submitted to a smallest space analysis (SSA-I) in order to help ascertain the correspondence between the structure of the matrix and the facets of political issues in the mapping sentence.
It is hypothesized that the regression of one form of involvement on another should be monotone and of positive sign. Such a ‘first law’ of involvement does hold empirically here. Furthermore, the structure of the intercorrelation matrix can be represented geometrically by a cylindrical interpretation of the SSA space which corresponds to the facet design of the varieties of involvement. The axis of the cylinder distinguishes between instrumental and cognitive involvement, while the circularity within strata of the cylinder corresponds to the facet of political issues which are the objects of the involvement.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Bibliography
Antonovsky, A. and Arian A.: 1972, Hopes and Fears of Israelis (Jerusalem Academic Press).
Arian, A. (ed.): 1972, The Elections in Israel — 1969 (Jerusalem Academic Press).
Campbell, A., Gurin, G., and Miller, W. E.: 1954, The Voter Decides (Row, Peterson and Company, New York).
Cantril, H.: 1965, The Pattern of Human Concerns (Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick, N.J.).
Elizur, D.: 1970, Adapting to Innovation (Jerusalem Academic Press).
Gratch, H. (ed.): 1973, Twenty-Five Years of Social Research in Israel (Jerusalem Academic Press, Jerusalem).
Guttman, L.: 1954a, ‘The principal components of scalable attitudes’, in P. F. Lazarsfeld (ed.), Mathematical Thinking in the Social Sciences (The Free Press), pp. 216–257.
Guttman, L.: 1954b, ‘A new approach to factor analysis: The radex’, in P. F. Lazarsfeld (ed.), Mathematical Thinking in the Social Sciences (The Free Press), pp. 258–348.
Guttman, L.: 1965, ‘The structure of interrelations among intelligence tests’, 1964 Invitational Conference on Testing Problems (Educational Testing Service, Princeton).
Guttman, L.: 1967, ‘A psychological design for a theory of mental abilities’, in D. N., Jackson and S., Messick (eds.), Problems in Human Assessment (McGraw-Hill, New York).
Guttman, L.: 1968, ‘A general nonmetric technique for finding the smallest coordinate space for a configuration of points’, Psychometrika, 33, pp. 469–506.
Guttman, L.: 1971, ‘Social problem indicators’, The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 393, pp. 40–46.
Kernberg, O. et al.: 1972, ‘Psychotherapy and psychoanalysis: Final report of the Menninger Foundation's Psychotherapy Research Project’, Bulletin of the Menninger Clinic: The Menninger Foundation 36, pp. 268–275.
Lazarsfeld, P. F., Berelson, B., and Gaudet, H.: 1944, The People's Choice (Duell, Sloan and Pearce, New York).
Levy, S.: 1976, ‘Use of the mapping sentence for coordinating theory and research’, Quality and Quantity 10, pp. 117–125.
Levy, S.: 1978, ‘Involvement as a component of attitude: Theory and political examples’, in S., Shye (ed.), Theory Construction and Data Analysis in the Behavioral Sciences (Jossey-Bass, San Francisco), pp. 300–324.
Levy, S. and Guttman, L.: 1975a, ‘Structure and dynamics of worries’, Sociometry 38, pp. 445–473.
Levy, S. and Guttman, L.: 1975b, ‘On the multivariate structure of wellbeing’, Social Indicators Research 2, pp. 361–388.
Levy, S. and Guttman, L.: 1976, Values and Attitudes of Israeli High School Youth, Second Research Project (The Israel Institute of Applied Social Research, Jerusalem) (Hebrew, with summary in English).
Lingoes, J. C.: 1973, The Guttman-Lingoes Nonmetric Program Series (Mathesis Press, Ann Arbor, Michigan).
Runkel, P. J. and McGrath, J. E.: 1972, Research on Human Behavior: A Systematic Guide to Method (Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, New York).
Schlesinger, I. M. and Guttman, L.: 1969, Smallest space analysis of intelligence and achievement tests, Psychological Bulletin 71, pp. 95–100.
Stouffer, S. A. et al.: 1950, The American Soldier: Studies in Social Psychology in World War II (Univ. Princeton Press, Princeton).
Verba, S. and Nie, N. H.: 1972, Participation in America (Univ. of Chicago, Harper and Row, Chicago).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Levy, S. The cylindrical structure of political involvement. Soc Indic Res 6, 463–473 (1979). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00289439
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00289439