Elite Influence and Social Cohesion in Northern Ireland: an Individual Level Theory
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Georgia State University ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University Political Science Dissertations Department of Political Science 12-10-2018 Elite Influence and Social Cohesion in Northern Ireland: An Individual Level Theory Elizabeth A. O'Callaghan Georgia State University Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/political_science_diss Recommended Citation O'Callaghan, Elizabeth A., "Elite Influence and Social Cohesion in Northern Ireland: An Individual Level Theory." Dissertation, Georgia State University, 2018. https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/political_science_diss/53 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of Political Science at ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Political Science Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ELITE INFLUENCE AND SOCIAL COHESION IN NORTHERN IRELAND: AN INDIVIDUAL LEVEL THEORY by ELIZABETH A. O’CALLAGHAN Under the Direction of Ryan Carlin, PhD ABSTRACT Social cohesion is an assessment of the functional nature of a polity, particularly how a society perceives, assesses, and interacts with the political system and others in society. This dissertation sets out to clarify our understanding of social cohesion within the field of political science. As a discipline we have diverging definitions and conceptualizations of the term. By laying out a comprehensive individual level theory of social cohesion this dissertation aims to open up the black box of social cohesion, moving beyond the aggregate level analyses that largely occupy the academic and policy literature. I set out a new theory of how three components of social cohesion interact and influence the way that a society produces and maintains or degrades social cohesion. The three attitudinal and behavioral areas discussed and scrutinized include political legitimacy, social capital, and political participation. To assess the relationships between these individual level attitudes and behaviors I examine original data collected from student sample from Queen’s University Belfast from 2014-2015. An online survey including a trust game and priming experiment were conducted to test several hypotheses about the relationship between elite behaviors and the three areas of social cohesion. Evidence and findings in this study should be taken as preliminary and a jumping off point for future research. I find preliminary evidence in support of behaviors of elected officials influencing attitudes about certain institutions. Attitudes about actors and institutions are associated with social trust and reciprocity as well as preferences of interacting with the outgroup. Lastly, I argue that legitimacy and social capital will have an interactive effect on when and how individuals participate in politics. I find limited evidence of this relationship. Ultimately there is mixed initial evidence for my individual level theory with the given data. I provide several prescriptions for how research in this area and further tests of social cohesion at the individual level should move forward. INDEX WORDS: Social cohesion, Northern Ireland, Consociationalism, Elite influence, Social capital, Legitimacy, Political participation, Experiment, Social trust game, Political attitudes, Political behaviors, Social identity theory, Sectarian ELITE INFLUENCE AND SOCIAL COHESION IN NORTHERN IRELAND: AN INDIVIDUAL LEVEL THEORY by ELIZABETH A. O’CALLAGHAN A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the College of Arts and Sciences Georgia State University 2018 Copyright by Elizabeth Ann O’Callaghan-Smith 2018 ELITE INFLUENCE AND SOCIAL COHESION IN NORTHERN IRELAND: AN INDIVIDUAL LEVEL THEORY by ELIZABETH A. O’CALLAGHAN Committee Chair: Ryan Carlin Committee: Carrie Manning Jennifer McCoy Electronic Version Approved: Office of Graduate Studies College of Arts and Sciences Georgia State University December 2018 iv DEDICATION To Imogen and Connor v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Thank you to the many people who have supported me during the graduate school and dissertation journey. Thanks to my dissertation committee, Ryan Carlin, Carrie Manning, and Jennifer McCoy, for their continued support, feedback, and encouragement during this project. Also, Rhiannon Turner, the School of Psychology at Queen’s University Belfast, and Queen’s University Belfast for allowing me to conduct interviews and survey experimental research in Northern Ireland as a Visiting Researcher. I would also like to thank the Faculty and Staff of the Department of Political Science at Georgia State University for their support in this endeavor. Several individuals have given their guidance, support, expertise, and time at various stages of this project including: William Downs, Sarah Gershon, Greg Love, Amy Steigerwalt, Greg Lewis, Mike Fix, Susanne Schorpp, Holly Teresi, Ryan Yonk, Ben Taylor, Jason Rifler, Sean Richey, Jeff Glas, Betsy Smith, Ian Smith, Aries Arugay, Chipo Dendere, Mario Feit, Jeannie Grussendorf, Charles Hankla, Bob Howard, Jeffrey Lazarus, Rashid Naim, Kim Reimann, Adnan Rasool, Bailey Fairbanks, Liam Hayes, Gulcan Saglam, Alex Wishart, and Kristina LaPlant. Additionally, I could not have finished this without the endless support of my family and friends, thank you all. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................................ V LIST OF TABLES ...................................................................................................................... IX LIST OF FIGURES .................................................................................................................... XI LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ................................................................................................. XIII 1 INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................. 1 1.1 Road Map ...................................................................................................................... 6 2 SOCIAL COHESION AN INDIVIDUAL LEVEL THEORY ..................................... 7 2.1 Defining Social Cohesion ............................................................................................. 8 2.2 Other Definitions ........................................................................................................ 11 2.3 Social Cohesion’s Three Dimensions ........................................................................ 15 2.3.1 Legitimacy ............................................................................................................ 16 2.3.2 Social Capital ....................................................................................................... 17 2.3.3 Political Participation .......................................................................................... 20 2.4 A Top-Down Theory of Social Cohesion .................................................................. 21 2.4.1 Elite Conflict and Legitimacy Attitudes .............................................................. 23 2.4.2 Moving from Elite Behavior to Individual Attitudes .......................................... 27 2.4.3 Social Identity and Social Capital ....................................................................... 29 2.4.4 On Political Participation: An Argument for an Integrated Model of Legitimacy and Social Capital ................................................................................................ 34 vii 3 THE NORTHERN IRELAND CASE AND METHODOLOGY ............................... 39 3.1 Northern Ireland Background and Justification .................................................... 39 3.2 Methodology ............................................................................................................... 43 3.2.1 Online Survey ....................................................................................................... 44 3.2.2 MLA Interviews .................................................................................................... 45 4 LEGITIMACY ................................................................................................................ 46 4.1 Assembly Member Perceptions of Institutional Inclusion ..................................... 47 4.2 Legitimacy Expectations Revisited ........................................................................... 52 4.3 Individual Level Legitimacy Measures .................................................................... 53 4.3.1 Trust and Satisfaction .......................................................................................... 56 4.3.2 Trust in Political Parties ...................................................................................... 56 4.3.3 Confidence in Institutions ................................................................................... 61 4.4 Discussion .................................................................................................................... 64 5 SOCIAL CAPITAL ........................................................................................................ 66 5.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................ 66 5.2 Trust, Reciprocity, and Willingness to Integrate Hypotheses...............................