The article called “The influence of Group Identifications on Political Perception and

Evaluation” by Pamela Johnston Conover of University of North Carolina is about the rising

importance of group identification for global politics. The article has adopted a systematic

approach to investigate the perceptual effects o group identification. In order to do that, the

author has focused on the psychology of group identification and how group identification is

affected by the perceptions of the members of the group. The article withdraws its empirical

data from the 1980 National Election Study in order to test some of the hypothesis that have

been gathered as an outcome of the systematic approach.

The article introduces two hypothesis on the topic. The first hypothesis that has been

claimed by the author’s study is that “because people identify with different groups, they

should have different self-schemas and therefore distinct perspectives on the political world.

Group identifiers are not expected to be especially distinctive on those issues which are not

explicitly related to the group's interests in existing political discussions” (Conover, 1984).

According to this hypothesis, even though people may have different political perceptions

and different agendas regarding the politics, they may come to an agreement as a group on

issues that have effects on the group as a whole. Thus group identifiers can be less distinctive

on issues that are tied to the group’s interest. The second hypothesis is “because the political

environment activates some groups more than others, the impact of group identification on

political perceptions and evaluations should vary across groups. Those groups most activated

by the political environment should be most distinctive in their perceptions and evaluations”

(Conover, 1984). According to this hypothesis, the groups may show differences on their

political perspectives based on their identifications. For instance, a group with strong racial

identification is expected to be more distinctive than a group that has less racial

identification. Consequently, it is expected for group that is formed by individual that have
strong gender or race identification to form the most distinct groups when it comes to

political perceptions and global policies.

The article has reached the conclusion based on the analysis that have been conducted and

this conclusion suggests “group identifications play an important role in defining the

perceptual viewpoints that people bring to bear on politics; people identifying with different

groups focus on different things and evaluate political issues from different perspectives”

(Conover, 1984). Based on this calculation, it is possible to suggest that group identification

plays a crucial role in politic decisions. In today’s world, this importance has risen even

more, as the global politics has become more important for the countries around the world to

maintain the peace. From my perspective, I agree with the findings of this study. Even though

the article dates back to 1984, its findings can be considered valid today. I also believe the

importance of group identification will continue to increase for the area of global politics in

the future.

REFERENCES

Conover, P.J., 1984. The influence of group identifications on political perception and evaluation. The

Journal of Politics, 46(3), pp.760-785.