Deeply embedded core normative values and their relationship with perceptions of legitimacy

Abstract

This article presents a tailored research tool developed to explore and test the recent theory of deeply embedded core normative values, which asserts that beliefs about the legitimacy of law-enforcement authorities derive in part from profound cultural orientations through which individuals act in and interpret the world. The model is based on a typology of four core normative value systems, namely religious–traditional, liberal, republican–communitarian, and ethno-national, which are associated in different ways with legitimacy. We first conducted in-depth interviews with 45 participants to develop the research tool (questionnaire), then performed a large-scale representative survey among 1,617 Israeli respondents. The findings support the main premises of the model. They show that liberal, republican–communitarian, and religious–traditional values have significant associations with two measures of legitimacy (trust and obligation to obey the police), and that these associations generally hold beyond perceptions of police conduct and performance.