Objective. Cultural Theory (CT) has attracted significant attention across the social sciences and is increasingly being used in survey research. We assess the construct validity of three CT survey operationalizations to help interpret and improve these measures. Methods. A coding protocol for face and content validity of survey items was developed with input from several CT scholars and applied independently by two of authors of this article. Convergent, discriminant, and predictive validity of these items were assessed using survey data. Results. We find that these measures generally lack face and content validity but have reasonably good convergent, discriminant, and predictive validity. Conclusion. While these measures can continue to be used to predict attitudes and behaviors that CT hypothesizes will vary with culture, scholars interested in testing CT's basic claims in survey research should seek to improve their face and content validity, which will also allow better tests of convergent, discriminant, and predictive validity. Cultural Theory (CT) is an ambitious general social and political theory that has attracted significant attention across the social sciences (see, e.g., the 55-page bibliography in Wildavsky, 2006; journal symposia introduced in 6 and Swedlow, 2016; Swedlow, 2011, 2014; and contributions to risk analysis reviewed in Johnson and Swedlow, 2019a). A significant portion of this research is based on surveys. This article seeks to assess the construct validity of several survey operationalizations in order to provide guidance to scholars relying on this work as well as to those wishing to operationalize CT in surveys. For social scientists studying public opinion and such topics as political culture, the culture wars, ideology, value structure, mass belief systems, partisanship, political sophistication, political participation, policy preferences, risk perceptions, and many other subjects, CT provides rich theoretical resources. Its operationalization in survey research provides fresh insights and often greater explanatory and predictive power than alternative theories and concepts, including left-right ideology and partisanship (see, e.g.
