The moral foundations of political ideology in the UK
Politics in the UK is increasingly messy and fractured. The traditional lines of division between voters on the left and right have become less clear in recent years, while political events such as Brexit have given rise to new spaces of political polarisation. In the evolving landscape of political science, understanding the factors that shape contemporary political ideology, drive differences between groups, and might offer a space to find common ground, are crucial.
In a recent paper published in the British Journal of Politics and International Relations, we delve into this topic using novel data collected from the World Values Study in the UK. Exploring moral foundations theory (MFT) we investigate the role that moral values might have in untangling the messy nature of contemporary UK politics. We ask whether moral beliefs, such as emphasising care for others or respect for authority, influence political ideology and views towards political issues in the UK, and whether moral values might bring people together or pull people apart.
What is moral foundations theory?
Moral foundations theory, developed by Jonathan Haidt, Mohammed Atari and colleagues, posits that our moral reasoning is based on innate psychological systems that have evolved to help us navigate social life. They suggest these systems can be categorized into six moral foundations, with each foundation representing a different aspect of our moral intuitions: from the importance of caring for others to respecting sources of authority and traditions:
Care – avoiding emotional and physical damage to another individual.
Equality – equal treatment and equal outcomes for individuals.
Proportionality – individuals getting rewarded in proportion to their merit or contribution.
Loyalty – cooperating with ingroups and competing with outgroups.
Authority – deference toward legitimate authorities and the defence of traditions, which are seen as providing stability and fending off chaos.
Purity – avoiding bodily and spiritual contamination and degradation.
Haidt and Atari also suggest that moral foundations can be further separated into individualising and binding foundations, depending on whether the moral values are focused on the individual or towards broader groups and society. Care and equality relate to the individualising foundations, while those around proportionality, loyalty, authority and purity to issues binding society.
The study: a first in the UK
The UK World Values Survey data provides a unique opportunity to assess how the Moral foundations theory works in the UK context, and whether it correlates with political ideologies and views towards key political issues.
Our data was collected as part of the most recent wave of the World Values Survey, which includes a 24-item version of the moral foundations questionnaire asked as part of a set of additional questions exclusive to the UK.
For the first time, this delivers data on the moral foundations theory in the UK using a high-quality, nationally representative random probability sample. The data is now free to access through the UK Data Service, alongside additional questions across topics ranging from national identity, the breakup of the union, and affective polarisation between political groups in the UK.
Our key findings
1. Six-factor confirmation: Our study confirms a six-factor model of moral foundations in the UK, validating the refined MFQ2 questionnaire. This model allows researchers to create unique variables for care, equality, proportionality, loyalty, authority, and purity, and provides a robust framework to understand moral intuitions in the UK today. However, we find mixed evidence on how these factors combine to measure individualising and binding morals. Loyalty, authority and purity combine well to measure binding intuitions, however, care, equality and proportionality do not and may be better used as standalone items. Our results suggest the cultural context of different societies may have unique effects when trying to understand individualising and binding morals, and that moral foundations may operate differently across societal contexts.
2. Moral intuitions and political ideology: We find that moral intuitions significantly predict both economic left-right and socially liberal-conservative ideologies. For instance, care and equality foundations predict greater support for left-leaning economic ideology, while proportionality, loyalty, authority, and purity are associated with right-leaning economic ideology. Likewise, care and proportionality have a strong correlation with greater levels of social liberalism, while loyalty, authority and purity are strongly associated with lower levels of social liberalism.
3. Moral intuitions and political issues: Moral intuitions can also strongly predict responses to political issues. We find that care and equality both predict stronger support for same-sex parenting and weaker support for Brexit, while care also predicts stronger support for environmental protection and positive attitudes toward immigration. Binding intuitions, meanwhile, are strongly associated with greater support for Brexit and authoritarian governance, reflecting a desire for national sovereignty and strong leadership.
4. Polarisation and unification: We also show that moral intuitions both polarise and unify opinions across political issues. However, against our expectations, we find moral intuitions more often than not weaken ideologically driven differences, rather than exacerbate them. For example, proportionality attenuates different attitudes towards immigration between economic and social ideological groups.
Implications for political discourse
Our findings have significant implications for understanding political discourse in the UK. By recognising the moral underpinnings of political ideologies, policymakers and political communicators may have a stronger understanding of what drives the concerns and opinions of different segments of the population. In doing so, they might better predict how different groups might react to political messaging and new policy. Understanding the role of moral values in today’s politics can also help policymakers to bridge ideological divides, finding common ground in shared moral values to help reduce polarisation between ideologically different groups.
We hope our research provides valuable insight into the moral dimensions of political ideology in the UK. To learn more, read our full journal published now in the British Journal of Politics and International Relations.