Does Stock Ownership Lead To Conservative Values?
About half of households own shares, up from a third in the late 1980s. In the late 1990s, conservative commentators seized upon the idea that expansion of stock ownership was transforming national politics and psychology. Politics was supposedly drifting to the right because more people had a stake in capitalism. However, if shareholders became mini-capitalists, public opinion polls should have shown a rise in pro-business attitudes in the 1990s. But a review of surveys by Karlyn Bowman of the American Enterprise Institute found attitudes have remained remarkably stable. Americans generally like the free-enterprise system but are skeptical of corporate behavior. • When asked in 2000 whether companies should “make maximum profits,” only 36 percent said “yes.” • This was higher than in 1974 (24 percent) but almost the same as in 1981 (33 percent). Another survey asks whether “what’s good for business is also good for the average person.” • In 1981, 57 percent thought so, but near the ma
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