Identity and symbolic universes in voting behavior. A study of the Italian society

This study analyses the role played by identity motives and cultural worldviews in voting behavior. For this purpose, a representative national sample of Italian (N=3020) respondents completed a questionnaire battery measuring political values, proxies of identity motives (i.e. attitude towards immigrants and perceived identity threat), as well as cultural worldviews (symbolic universes). These variables were used in a model with the voting intention of respondents as outcome variable, political values, identity motives and socio-demographics as direct predictors and symbolic universes as indirect predictors. Consistently with the hypotheses, analyses revealed that the impact of identity motives is higher than that produced by socio-economic motives or political values. Symbolic universes indirectly influence identity motives and, therefore, voting behavior. Results are interpreted in the framework of Semiotic Cultural Psychology Theory.