One of the most powerful influences on a political system is the "modernity" or socioeconomic "level" of a country.  Thus, Table 7-2 shows that relatively modern countries have a markedly lower level of conflict than countries with traditional societies or countries in transition from traditionalism to modernity.  Not surprisingly, the transitional countries have the highest level of conflict.  Therefore: "Among the countries of the world, the chances for peaceful adjustment of political conflicts are higher, the greater the per capita Gross National Product and other indices of 'modernization' associated with per capita GNP."

TABLE 7-2  Economic Development and Level of Political Conflict-
           118 countries, 1948-1977
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 POLITICAL CONFLICT
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GNP PER CAPITA     LOW     HIGH     TOTAL PERCENT     NUMBER

Low                58%     42%           100%            38
Middle             42%     58%           100%            62
High               61%     39%           100%            18
Total Number       (59)    (59)                        (118)
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Source: World Handbook of Political and Social Indicators

(1) Point out the inconsistency (if any) in Dahl's discussion.  Do you feel Dahl's remark that "not surprisingly, the transitional countries have the highest level of conflict" makes substantive sense?  Why?

(2) Calculate ?2.  Chi-square tests are discussed in chapter 17 of Wonnacott and Wonnacott; pages 555-558 are especially helpful for this problem.  Problem 17-7 is similar and may be helpful.  Note that you have to transform the table in order to figure out chi-square.  Show your work!

(3) Discuss the result of your test. Does it support Dahl's conclusion?
 
 

B.  Based on the 1984 Gallup Survey:

(1) Examine the relationship between religion (Protestants, Catholics, and Jews) and presidential vote choice (Mondale and Reagan).  Conduct a chi-square test.
 v004 is presidential vote choice; 1=Reagan, 2=Mondale
 v042 is religion; 1=Protestant, 2=Catholic, 3=Jewish
Use SPSS to create crosstabs to help you do the chi-square test.  The crosstab command is found under Statistics-summarize.  When you examine the output, you will only be concerned with responses 1, 2, and 3 for v042 and 1 and 2 for v004.  Note that you are not running a chi-square test in SPSS, but are only getting the appropriate data.  
 
 

(2) Reexamine the relationship controlling for sex.  (Conduct two chi-square tests.)  Discuss your findings.
 v039 is the gender variable; 1, 3, and 5 = males, 2, 4, and 6 = females
To control for sex in SPSS, you will need to use the Select Cases command.  This is found under Data.  For males, for example, you will need to go to Data, Select Cases, and If...  After choosing the If command, you will type:  (v039=1) or (v039=3) or (v039=5).  This will select all of the males.  Then, run the crosstabs, and repeat the same process for females.

When you're finished with this part, don't forget to go back to Data-Select Cases and select All Cases.
 

C.  Correlation

What is the correlation between income and ideology?  Do a simple bivariate correlation in SPSS between v040 (income) and v101 (self-placement on a liberal conservative scale).  The correlation command in SPSS is found under Statistics.  What does this number tell you?