Better or Different? How Political Ideology Shapes Preferences for Differentiation in the Social Hierarchy

Abstract

As consumers' political opinions become more divided and more central to their identities, it is important to understand how political ideology shapes consumers' attempts to differentiate from others in the marketplace. Seven studies demonstrate that political ideology systematically influences consumers' preferences for differentiation. Conservative ideology leads consumers to differentiate from others vertically in the social hierarchy through products that signal that they are better than others, and liberal ideology leads consumers to differentiate from others horizontally in the social hierarchy through products that signal that they are unique from others. This happens because conservatism endorses, and liberalism opposes, the belief that the dominance-based hierarchical social structure is a legitimate mechanism to distinguish individual qualities. The effect is robust across measured and manipulated ideology, hypothetical and real product choices, and online searches in conservative and liberal US states. Manipulating consumers' differentiation goals and perceptions of hierarchy legitimacy mitigates the effect. The findings advance existing research on political ideology, social hierarchy, and consumer divergence, and they contribute to marketing practice.

Nation’s Historical Past under Multicultural Conditions

“…In addition to the natural aging of information carriers, factors that lead to their disorganization of social memory include: the destruction and dispersion of information carriers due to natural disasters, wars, the decline of the culture level, revolutions, as well as the ideological struggle, in particular, political one which, according to modern researchers [18], determines the social hierarchy. Although the factors outlined are not equivocal, their destructive effects lead to the loss of entire layers of retrospective information in the society's memory.…”

How Consumers' Political Ideology and Status-Maintenance Goals Interact to Shape Their Desire for Luxury Goods

“…Across the studies, we interpret political ideology as a generalized personality orientation along the liberal-conservative spectrum and capture the construct both categorically as a party affiliation (Republican vs. Democrat) and continuously as a degree of political conservatism (Jost et al 2003;Winterich, Mittal, and Aquino 2016). This approach follows the use in prior research of continuous measures of political ideology ranging from liberal to conservative (e.g., Kidwell, Farmer, and Hardesty 2013;Ordabayeva and Fernandes 2018). Thus, we use the terms "conservatives" and "Republicans" (when measured categorically) or "political conservatism" (when measured continuously) interchangeably.…”

Getting Conservatives and Liberals to Agree on the COVID-19 Threat

“…A large body of research on the psychological foundations of political ideology suggests that, compared to liberals, conservatives have a greater tendency to view free will and self-determination as the primary drivers of outcomes in life (Feather 1985;Ordabayeva and Fernandes 2018). Such a view reduces uncertainty and suggests greater predictability throughout life, which is a fundamental value that conservatives hold (Jost 2017).…”