Social and political attitudes

The course provides the theoretical tools to understand and study attitudes and attitude change. Measurement of attitudes is a core element of the course.
The substantive issues on which the course focuses range from attitudes toward science, gender roles, immigration to authoritarianism, democratic values, liberalism and conservatism, trust in government, national identity.
Most of the practical work will be carried out using data coming from international survey programs.

Students will acquire the theoretical knowledge for understanding the relations that exist between attitudes, opinions, values, behaviours. Moreover, they will learn to handle specific measurement models based on correlational analysis in order to measure attitudes.
During the course, the students will be required to pay particular attention to effective and efficient communication of scientific results, both orally and in writing.