Dynamics of Political Support-Alienation

Abstract

Three hypotheses about the relationship between political performance (specific support) and attitude about the political system (diffuse support) are investigated. Data are from a two-wave panel study carried out during 1974–1976 in the Federal Republic of Germany. No support is found for an Independence hypothesis, which predicts that because system support is acquired during an early age it will be resistant to change during adulthood. The results indicate that the relationship between performance evaluation and system attitude is complex. Support is found for (1) a Social Learning hypothesis, which predicts that system support will respond to differential satisfaction with the performance of an incumbent administration, and (2) a Structuring hypothesis, which predicts that system attitude will influence one's evaluation of the performance of an incumbent administration. It is therefore not possible to rule out reciprocal causation between performance evaluation and system attitude, suggesting that unidirectional causal models are likely to misspecify the true relationship.

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