Dissatisfied democrats: a study of democratic attitudes in Argentinian citizens

Abstract

This article access citizens’ attitudes towards democracy and the role that psycho-social aspects play on their explana-tion. Specifically, differences in attitudes towards democracy based on three related dimensions are studied: preference for a democratic political system, evaluation of democracy as an ideal and satisfaction with the functioning of de-mocracy. In addition, we address the contribution of psychosocial values, ideology, tolerance of political corruption, evaluation of political actors, political participation and socio-demographic aspects to the explanation of these three dimensions of attitudes toward democracy. We selected a sample of 252 citizens of Córdoba (AR), between 18 and 65 years old, through sampling with age, sex and socioeconomic status quotification. Data was collected through the application of a closed questionnaire and mean difference tests and multiple regression analysis were performed. The results evidenced that citizens make differential assessments of democracy as an ideal and about its ability to provide desirable results. The role of the variables studied in relation to the different assessments of democracy is discussed, highlighting the importance of ideological and normative aspects.