Social conservatism: Determinants and structural stability over time

The decade of the 1970s is generally regarded as one of increasing conservatism in attitudes and lifestyle. Using general social survey data from the period 1972–1980 the paper describes and explains some of the fundamental shifts in socially conservative attitudes (i.e. attitudes concerning civil liberty, abortion, racial segregation) which occurred during the 1970s. Findings suggest the following: (1) attitude structures changed little over time; (2) levels of conservatism showed a statistically significant increase over the decade; (3) the overall explanatory structure (both slopes and intercepts) changed over the time period investigated. However, levels of education and levels of church attendance had consistent (but inverse) impacts on degree of conservatism; (4) size of place of current residence was conspicuously absent as an important predictor. Since this is the most often used proxy for rural vs urban milieu, we encourage caution in interpreting much of the literature on rural-urban differences.