Radicalism-Conservatism Scale

Abstract

The Radicalism-Conservatism Scale, developed by Comrey and Newmeyer in 1965, is a psychometric instrument designed to measure an individual’s position across the Radicalism-Conservatism spectrum. Unlike instruments focusing solely on political party affiliation, this scale assesses deep-seated social and political attitudes across a wide array of domains, including religion, foreign policy, social welfare, civil rights, and criminal justice. It utilizes a multi-dimensional structure comprising 12 distinct subscales, aiming to provide a nuanced understanding of sociopolitical ideology.

The scale is presented in two parallel forms, Form A and Form B, each containing 30 items. Responses are gathered using a 9-point rating system, allowing respondents to express the intensity of their agreement or disagreement with various statements concerning public policy and moral issues. This instrument is foundational in the study of political psychology and psychological scale development, offering a robust measure of ideological disposition.

Keywords

Radicalism, Conservatism, Political Attitudes, Sociopolitical Ideology, Psychometrics, Religiosity, Pacifism, Welfarism, Capital Punishment, Moral Censorship

Authors

Andrew L. Comrey, Joseph Newmeyer

Purpose

The primary purpose of the Radicalism-Conservatism Scale is to quantify the degree to which an individual holds attitudes traditionally associated with political radicalism or conservatism. The authors sought to move beyond simplistic, single-item measures of political affiliation by developing a scale that samples a broad and representative range of contemporary political and social issues relevant to the mid-1960s American context.

The instrument serves as a valuable tool for researchers in social and political psychology interested in correlating ideological stance with personality variables, demographic characteristics, or other attitudinal measures. By breaking down the overall construct into 12 specific content areas, the scale allows for detailed analysis of heterogeneous belief systems that collectively constitute the broader Radicalism-Conservatism dimension.

Construct

The scale is designed to measure the overarching construct of Sociopolitical Ideology, specifically along the radical-conservative continuum. Conservatism, in the context of this scale, is generally reflected by support for traditional institutions, strong national defense, limited government intervention in the economy (anti-welfarism, weak federal government), strict moral codes, and punitive measures for criminals. Radicalism, conversely, is characterized by support for social change, strong welfare programs, governmental regulation, pacifism, and greater individual freedoms.

The scale operationalizes this complex construct through 12 distinct, yet correlated, sub-dimensions. These dimensions cover key areas of public life and policy, ensuring comprehensive coverage of the ideological space. The sub-dimensions explored include: Religiosity, Pacifism, Welfarism, Anti-unionism, Weak Federal Government, Moral Censorship, Contraception, Racial Tolerance, Severe Treatment of Criminals, Capital Punishment, Service to Country, World Government, and Service to the Individual.

Validity

The original validation of the scale, detailed in the 1965 publication by Comrey and Newmeyer, focused on establishing both content and construct validity. Content validity was ensured by deriving items from a broad survey of contemporary political and social debates. Construct validity was supported through rigorous statistical methods, typically involving correlation with established political attitude measures and known group differences (e.g., comparing responses of known conservative vs. liberal groups).

High levels of internal consistency and clear separation of the factors, as demonstrated through the underlying structure, suggest that the scale effectively measures the intended ideological components. Subsequent research utilizing the scale has further supported its external validity by demonstrating predictable correlations between scale scores and various social behaviors and demographic factors.

Reliability

Information regarding the internal consistency and test-retest reliability of the Radicalism-Conservatism Scale is detailed in the original documentation. The use of two parallel forms (Form A and Form B) was likely intended to facilitate split-half reliability assessments or to allow for repeated measurements without practice effects. Given its foundation in rigorous psychometric practices, the scale is expected to demonstrate acceptable levels of reliability, ensuring that the measurement of the underlying construct is consistent across different administrations and item sets.

Factor Analysis

The scale’s structure is inherently multi-dimensional, derived from a comprehensive Factor Analysis conducted by the authors. The factor structure revealed 12 distinct factors, corresponding directly to the 12 content areas used to organize the items (e.g., Religiosity, Pacifism, Welfarism). This detailed factor structure confirms that political ideology is not a monolithic construct but rather a composite of specific, semi-independent attitudes toward different societal and governmental functions.

The factors identified demonstrate strong conceptual clarity, with items loading heavily onto their intended subscales. This statistical evidence supports the use of the scale not just for obtaining a single composite score of radicalism/conservatism, but also for analyzing specific ideological components, which is crucial for nuanced research in political psychology.

Instrument

Test Type: Self-Report Attitudinal Inventory

Format: 9-point Likert-type scale, ranging from 1 (agree very strongly) to 9 (disagree very strongly). Items marked with an asterisk (*) are reversed items.

Language Available: English (Original)

Population Group: General population, primarily utilized with adult and student samples in the United States.

Age Group: Adolescents (High School) and Adults.

Population Details: Originally validated on American samples in the mid-1960s.

Test Methodology: Respondents rate their level of agreement or disagreement with 30 declarative statements across two parallel forms (Form A and Form B).

Keywords

Political Psychology, Attitude Measurement, Ideological Spectrum, Social Welfare, Foreign Policy, Welfarism, Moral Attitudes, Comrey, Newmeyer

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: Not specified in source content (N/A)

Affiliation Email addresses: Not specified in source content (N/A)

Correspondence Address: Not specified in source content (N/A)

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The test was developed and published in 1965. Permissions for use should typically be sought from the original authors or the journal publisher. However, as the scale is published in various academic compendiums, it is often used for non-commercial research purposes with citation. The full instrument is publicly accessible through academic repositories.

The original PDF containing the instrument can be downloaded here: https://www.psc.isr.umich.edu/dis/infoserv/isrpub/pdf/Measuresofsocialpsychologicalattitudes_2928_.PDF

Reference’s

• Comrey, A. and Newmeyer, J. (1965). Measurement of radicalism-conservatism. Journal of Social Psychology, 67, 357-369.

• Robinson, John P., Shaver, Phillip R. (1969). Measures of Political Attitudes. Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan/. Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Items of the Radicalism-Conservatism Scale

IMPORTANT: The following scale items must be preserved in their original language and must not be changed in any way.

1. Every child should have religious instruction.
2. God exists‚ in the form in which the Bible describes him.
3. This country would be better off if religion had a greater influence in daily life.
4. All people alive today are the descendants of Adam and Eve.

5. This country should disarm regardless of whether or not other countries do.*
6. I f my country had been destroyed‚ I still would not push the button to wipe out the attacking enemy nation. *
7. Our country should be engaged constantly in research to develop superior weapons for our national defense.

8. The average man today is getting less than his rightful share of our national wealth.*
9. The government should guarantee every citizen enough to eat.*

10. Many large un‎ions have officers with criminal records.
11. Most un‎ions do not elect officers by honest‚ secret ballot elections.

12. Central government should run only those things which cannot be run effectively at the local level.
13. The federal government has too much power over citizen s and local government.
14. Greater decentralization of power would be better for this country.
15. A greater degree of government control over business would result in a weakening of this country’s economy.

16. If a man is showing a sex movie to friends in his own home‚ the police should stop it.
17. Every city should prevent the Bale of objectionable books.
18. Sexual relation s between unmarried people should be illegal.
19. The police should hunt down homosexuals and put them in jail.

20. Abortion should be legalized.*

21. Employers should be prevented by law from hiring only people of their own race.*

22. Criminals convicted of three separate felonies should never be released.
23. In our country‚ the sentences handed out to criminals are usually too light.

24. A mentally ill man who attacks and kills a little girl should be ex‎ecuted.
25. A gunman who kill s someone in an armed robbery should receive the death sentence.

26. Every able bodied male should willingly serve for a period of time in his country’s military service.
27. A man who is ready to die for his country deserves the highest honor.

28. The United States should work peacefully for a strong world government.
29. The United States should be willing to surrender some of its rights to strengthen the United Nations

30. Laws which benefit the people are more important than laws which strengthen the nation.

1. School teachers should believe in God.
2. It should be against the law to do anything which the Bible says is wrong.
3. Moses got the ten commandments directly from God.
4. All the miracles described in the Bible really happened.

5. Under no circumstances should our country use nuclear bombs against anybody.*
6. I would rather have a foreign power take over our country than s t a r t another world war to stop it.*
7. Our country should prepare to employ every available weapon to destroy any major power that seriously attacks us.

8. It is the responsibility of the government to take care of people who can’t take care of themselves.*
9. If the government must go deeper in debt to help people‚ it should do so.*

10. Most un‎ions try to prevent the efficient use of labor.
11. Many un‎ion leaders use threats and violence to keep themselves i n power.

12. The federal government should not interfere in the affairs of Individual states unless absolutely necessary.
13. The strength of this country today is largely a product of the free enterprise system.
14. Regulation of business by government usually does more harm than good.
15. When something is run by the government‚ it is apt to be inefficient and wasteful.

16. Motion pictures which offend any sizeable religious group should be banned.
17. Public libraries should contain only books which are morally sound.
18. A woman who has sexual relation s with a man for money should go to jail.
19. More restrictions should be imposed to prevent young people from ha‎ving sexual relations before marriage.

20. Birth control devices should be made readily available to anyone who wants to use them.*

21. Marriages between persons of different races should be socially acceptable.*

22. Teenage hoodlums should be punished severely.
23. Our laws give too much protection to criminals

24. A dictator who orders the extermination of thousands of innocent people should be ex‎ecuted for his crimes.
25. Someone who plans and carries out the murder of his or her spouse should be ex‎ecuted.

26. If called upon to do so‚ a citizen should be willing to sacrifice his life for his country.
27. Patriotism is one of the great virtues.

28. The United States eventually should give up its military power to a strong world government.*
29. Present nations should become states within an all powerful world government.

30. The welfare of the Individual Is more important than ) the welfare of the country.

(*Reversed item)