Better or Different? How Political Ideology Shapes Preferences for Differentiation in the Social Hierarchy

TLDR

As consumers’ political opinions become more divided and central to their identities, understanding how ideology shapes attempts to differentiate in the marketplace is important. Conservatism endorses, while liberalism opposes, the legitimacy of a dominance‑based hierarchy as a means to distinguish individual qualities. Seven studies reveal that conservatives prefer vertical, status‑signaling differentiation while liberals prefer horizontal, uniqueness‑signaling differentiation; the effect persists across measured and manipulated ideology, real and hypothetical choices, and online searches, and can be mitigated by altering differentiation goals or hierarchy legitimacy perceptions, thereby advancing theory and marketing practice.

Abstract

Abstract As consumers’ political opinions become more divided and more central to their identities, it is important to understand how political ideology shapes consumers’ attempts to differentiate from others in the marketplace. Seven studies demonstrate that political ideology systematically influences consumers’ preferences for differentiation. Conservative ideology leads consumers to differentiate from others vertically in the social hierarchy through products that signal that they are better than others, and liberal ideology leads consumers to differentiate from others horizontally in the social hierarchy through products that signal that they are unique from others. This happens because conservatism endorses, and liberalism opposes, the belief that the dominance-based hierarchical social structure is a legitimate mechanism to distinguish individual qualities. The effect is robust across measured and manipulated ideology, hypothetical and real product choices, and online searches in conservative and liberal US states. Manipulating consumers’ differentiation goals and perceptions of hierarchy legitimacy mitigates the effect. The findings advance existing research on political ideology, social hierarchy, and consumer divergence, and they contribute to marketing practice.