DOCSLIB.ORG

Theorizing Moral Cognition: Culture in Action, Situations, and Relationships

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Theorizing Moral Cognition: Culture in Action, Situations, and Relationships UCLA UCLA Previously Published Works Title Theorizing Moral Cognition: Culture in Action, Situations, and Relationships Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3xm4m3mw Author Luft, Aliza Publication Date 2020 DOI 10.1177/2378023120916125 Peer reviewed eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California SRDXXX10.1177/2378023120916125SociusLuft 916125research-article2020 Original Article Socius: Sociological Research for a Dynamic World Volume 6: 1 –15 © The Author(s) 2020 Theorizing Moral Cognition: Culture in Article reuse guidelines: sagepub.com/journals-permissions Action, Situations, and Relationships DOI:https://doi.org/10.1177/2378023120916125 10.1177/2378023120916125 srd.sagepub.com Aliza Luft1 Abstract Dual-process theories of morality are approaches to moral cognition that stress the varying significance of emotion and deliberation in shaping judgments of action. Sociological research that builds on these ideas considers how cross- cultural variation alters judgments, with important consequences for what is and is not considered moral behavior. Yet lacking from these approaches is the notion that, depending on the situation and relationship, the same behavior by the same person can be considered more or less moral. The author reviews recent trends in sociological theorizing about morality and calls attention to the neglect of situational variations and social perceptions as mediating influences on judgment. She then analyzes the moral machine experiment to demonstrate how situations and relationships inform moral cognition. Finally, the author suggests that we can extend contemporary trends in the sociology of morality by connecting culture in thinking about action to culture in thinking about people. Keywords cognition, culture, morality, perception, situations Preface As I write, there are places in the world where there aren’t enough hospital beds or respirators to allow all patients to This paper is about moral judgments in challenging and receive adequate medical care. Italian doctors have been uncertain times and how social relationships shape our per- forced to weigh one life against another. Very soon, their col- ceptions of right and wrong. My original goal in writing it leagues in the United States will face such terrible responsi- was to explore a curious gap in the psychological research on bilities as well. There are no good blueprints for such morality that we often unwittingly incorporate into our soci- devastating moral decisions. One group of bioethicists pro- ological work: how situations and perceptions influence posed that, should equipment or care be rationed, the young moral cognition and, in turn, social behavior. I never could and those who are front-line health workers must have prior- have imagined how COVID-19 would collapse the distance ity (Emanuel et al. 2020). State plans in Alabama call for a between theory and practice. scheme in which “persons with severe or profound mental Today, as some 85 percent of Americans live under orders retardation, moderate to severe dementia, or catastrophic to shelter-in-place, where even the most banal social interac- neurological complications such as persistent vegetative tion could prove a link in a chain of contagion and death, these state are unlikely candidates for ventilator support.” Doctors issues feel relevant, urgent, and close. In particular, I begin the in Pennsylvania created an eight-point scale, since adopted paper with a summary of two models of moral cognition: the by hospitals around the country, to calculate a patient’s pre- social intuitionist model and the digital camera model. The lat- COVID life expectancy (given any preexisting conditions), ter is premised on what is occasionally cheekily referred to as as well as their likelihood for surviving their current hospi- “Trolleyology,” after a famous series of experiments where talization as physicians sort who will—and who will participants are confronted with life-and-death decisions. It has often been dismissed by those who claim such circum- stances—where one person is tasked with choosing who lives 1University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA and who dies—are esoteric and unrelatable. Still, as someone Corresponding Author: who studies decision-making about violence, it seemed worth Aliza Luft, University of California, Department of Sociology, 264 Haines sorting through the truths inherent in the scenario. I am devas- Hall, 375 Portola Plaza, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1551, USA tated by how relevant those truths seem today. Email: [email protected] Creative Commons Non Commercial CC BY-NC: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution- NonCommercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage). 2 Socius: Sociological Research for a Dynamic World not—get life-saving care (White 2020). Many facilities are explained with reference to physical violence, “when we considering adopting universal do-not-resuscitate orders for think about sticking a pin into a child’s hand, or we hear a coronavirus patients because of the risks such efforts might story about a person slapping her father, most of us have an pose to hospital staff. These heartbreaking preparations, let automatic intuitive reaction that includes a flash of negative alone the actual decisions, felt unthinkable not long ago. affect” (p. 998). Haidt’s argument is premised on a wide So, I publish this article full of emotion. As I walk my body of scholarship suggesting that fast and slow cognitive neighborhood and see lines of customers outside grocery processes underlie human cognition and that has become stores, carefully spaced and wearing whatever masks or ban- increasingly influential in sociology (e.g., Chaiken and Trope danas they might have, I think of the sociological research on 1999; Kahneman 2011; Lizardo et al. 2016; Miles, Charron- culture and crisis discussed herein. Situational disruptions Chénier, and Schleifer 2019). However, within the cognitive upend everything, large and small. We may not personally sciences, significant advances have been made in recent have to choose who will live and die, but the sociological years highlighting Haidt’s inattention to situational varia- research on categorization and classification also discussed tion—in particular, whether a dilemma is familiar—while a helps us see how, in this time of “social distancing,” we are separate body of work calls attention to the relationship actually being called on to broaden our universe of moral between affect and social perception—how unconsciously obligation (Fein 1993). Everything we do (and don’t do) now held beliefs about others shape how we feel about and subse- shapes how many of the gut-wrenching life-or-death deci- quently treat them. As a result, in this article I argue that sions doctors and nurses will have to make. The most vulner- moral judgment is not simply about actions but about situa- able among us are suddenly more visible: We are deeply tions and relationships. Moreover, sociologists, who have connected not only to the elderly and the medically compro- long been attuned to how situations and relationships influ- mised, but also the homeless, the incarcerated, the undocu- ence human judgment, are uniquely poised to consider these mented. Our responses must be altruistic to save as many as influences in our analyses. Thus, to complement the growing possible, but they often have not been: We have seen people incorporation of research from cognitive sciences into soci- hoard groceries and price-gouge on stockpiles of normally ology, in this article I provide an update on advances in the cheap and truly vital supplies. Four of 100 U.S. Senators former and how our own disciplinary expertise can both (Richard Burr [R-N.C.], Feinstein [D-Calif.], James Inhofe deepen and extend these insights concerning morality. [R-Okla.], and Kelly Loeffler [R-GA]), as soon as they were The article proceeds as follows. First, I review research briefed on the spread of the novel coronavirus, but before on culture in thinking about action1 with regard to moral that information was public, seized the chance to sell hun- judgment, highlighting two prominent models in the cogni- dreds of thousands of dollars in stocks before the market tive sciences: Jonathan Haidt’s social institutionist model could collapse, as they knew it would. and Joshua Greene’s digital camera model. The former has More than ever, I am convinced we need to think about received significant attention in sociology, but the latter, how situational circumstances interact with social relation- which is highly influential in moral psychology, has not. I ships to shape moral judgments. This is not a call to moral suggest that the latter is especially worth incorporating into relativism, but an urgent acknowledgement that, when it our research, as its focus on situational variation mirrors comes to individual judgment, morality is relative. What we much work in our own discipline that emphasizes how social believe to be good and bad gets a little fuzzier when we find situations contain their own meanings and expectations that ourselves in unfamiliar territory, and so we reconsider our shape people’s judgments and actions. Second, I argue that relationships,
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Beyond Social Class and Status. the Network Embeddedness of Music Consumption
    PRZEGLĄD SOCJOLOGICZNY 2019 68(2): 81–105 ISSN 0033-2356; e-ISSN 2450-9351 https://doi.org/10.26485/PS/2019/68.2/4 Michał Cebula University of Wrocław BEYOND SOCIAL CLASS AND STATUS. THE NETWORK EMbEDDEDNESS OF MUSIC CONSUMPTION Abstract The relationship between stratification and music consumption patterns has become a vibrant field of study in recent years, not only in the sociology of music but also in sociology tout court. It is widely accepted that musical consumption is undergoing profound change, from a tight correspondence between social positions and tastes (the homology argument) to an omnivore- univore model marked by a greater diversity of preferences among those in higher social strata. What is less understood in both frameworks is how musical consumption is related to an individual’s social networks, net of other structural variables (e.g. class or status). Drawing on original quantitative data collected by the author, the paper tries to establish, first, whether diversity of personal networks is conducive to greater heterogeneity in musical preferences and knowledge, and second, what role “weak” and “strong” ties play. It is confirmed that people whose networks are richer in weak connections are more likely to be omnivores while this is not true in the case of strong ties. Some possible explanations of the findings, as well as directions of future studies, are outlined. Keywords: omnivorousness, musical tastes, social network, social capital, stratification of culture PhD, Department of Consumer Behaviour, Institute of Sociology; e-mail: [email protected]; https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6086-2233 82 MIChał CEbuLa INTRODUCTION answering the question “What is sociological about music?” Roy and Dowd [2010] make a point that music is a mode of interaction that expresses and con- stitutes social relations (of different kinds: subcultures, organizations, classes, even nations) with the context-specific intersubjective meanings it delivers and sustains.
    [Show full text]
  • Altruism, Morality & Social Solidarity Forum
    Altruism, Morality & Social Solidarity Forum A Forum for Scholarship and Newsletter of the AMSS Section of ASA Volume 3, Issue 2 May 2012 What’s so Darned Special about Church Friends? Robert D. Putnam Harvard University One purpose of my recent research (with David E. Campbell) on religion in America1 was to con- firm and, if possible, extend previous research on the correlation of religiosity and altruistic behavior, such as giving, volunteering, and community involvement. It proved straight-forward to show that each of sev- eral dozen measures of good neighborliness was strongly correlated with religious involvement. Continued on page 19... Our Future is Just Beginning Vincent Jeffries, Acting Chairperson California State University, Northridge The beginning of our endeavors has ended. The study of altruism, morality, and social solidarity is now an established section in the American Sociological Association. We will have our first Section Sessions at the 2012 American Sociological Association Meetings in Denver, Colorado, this August. There is a full slate of candidates for the ASA elections this spring, and those chosen will take office at the Meetings. Continued on page 4... The Revival of Russian Sociology and Studies of This Issue: Social Solidarity From the Editor 2 Dmitry Efremenko and Yaroslava Evseeva AMSS Awards 3 Institute of Scientific Information for Social Sciences, Russian Academy of Sciences Scholarly Updates 12 The article was executed in the framework of the research project Social solidarity as a condition of society transformations: Theoretical foundations, Bezila 16 Russian specificity, socio-biological and socio-psychological aspects, supported Dissertation by the Russian foundation for basic research (Project 11-06-00347а).
    [Show full text]
  • Globalization, World Culture and the Sociology of Taste: Patterns of Cultural Choice in Cross-National Perspective
    Globalization, World Culture And The Sociology Of Taste: Patterns Of Cultural Choice In Cross-National Perspective Item Type text; Electronic Dissertation Authors Lizardo, Omar Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 27/09/2021 11:28:29 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/193871 1 GLOBALIZATION, WORLD CULTURE AND THE SOCIOLOGY OF TASTE: PATTERNS OF CULTURAL CHOICE IN CROSS-NATIONAL PERSPECTIVE By Omar Lizardo _________________________ A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of The DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For The Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY In the Graduate College University of Arizona 2006 2 THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA GRADUATE COLLEGE As members of the Dissertation Committee, we certify that we have read the dissertation prepared by Omar Lizardo entitled Globalization, World Culture And The Sociology Of Taste: Patterns Of Cultural Choice In Cross-National Perspective and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy _______________________________________________________________________ Date: 08/18/06 Ronald L. Breiger _______________________________________________________________________ Date: 08/18/06 Kieran Healy _______________________________________________________________________ Date: 08/18/06 Erin Leahey Final approval and acceptance of this dissertation is contingent upon the candidate’s submission of the final copies of the dissertation to the Graduate College. I hereby certify that I have read this dissertation prepared under my direction and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement.
    [Show full text]
  • Curriculum Vitae
    DANIEL ESCHER www.danielescher.com Department of Sociology, University of Notre Dame 810 Flanner Hall Notre Dame, IN 46556 (206) 437-0191 mobile [email protected] EDUCATION Ph.D. 2015, University of Notre Dame, Sociology Unmoving People, Removing Mountains: Coal Mining, Cultural Matching, and Micro- mobilization in Central Appalachia Rory McVeigh (chair), Omar Lizardo, Terry McDonnell, Lyn Spillman, and Kraig Beyerlein M.A. 2011, University of Notre Dame, Sociology. Exams: Social Movements, Religion M.Div. 2009, Princeton Theological Seminary, Religion & Society B.A. 2005, University of Washington, cum laude, Spanish and International Studies, with College Honors, Phi Beta Kappa EMPLOYMENT 2015–16 Postdoctoral fellow, College of Arts & Letters, University of Notre Dame RESEARCH INTERESTS Environmental sociology, collective behavior and social movements, cultural sociology, organizations PUBLICATIONS Peer Reviewed 2013 “How Does Religion Promote Forgiveness? Linking Beliefs, Orientations, and Practices.” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 52 (1): 100–19. doi:10.1111/jssr.12012. Under Review “How Cultural Matching Shapes Micro-mobilization: The Fight against Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining.” Coal is Our Heart and Soul: Inaction in an Environmental Crisis. Book manuscript. “The Effect of Discouraging Network Ties on Political Action,” with Kraig Beyerlein. GRANTS AND FELLOWSHIPS 2014 Dissertation Research Improvement Grant—National Science Foundation, grant no. SES- 1409581 ($12,000) 2011–14 Graduate Research Fellowship—National
    [Show full text]
  • Michael Schultz
    michael schultz Indiana University 755 Ballantine Hall [email protected] 1020 E. Kirkwood Avenue michaelschultz.org Bloomington, IN 47405 202.577.4353 Employment 2019 - Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, Indiana University 2016 - 2019 Post-Doctoral Fellow, SONIC Research Group, Northwestern University Education Ph.D., Sociology, University of California Berkeley, 2016 Dissertation: The Structure of American Lifestyle: Statistical Models and Analyses. M.A., Sociology, University of California, Berkeley, 2012 Thesis: A Formal Model of the Structural Foundations of Social Connectivity. M.Ed., Secondary Education, Mathematics, George Washington University, 2006. M.S., Electrical and Computer Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, 2004. B.S., Electrical and Computer Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, 2003. Research Computational Social Science, Quantitative Methods, Economic Sociology, Interests Social Networks, Social Interaction and Social Structure Teaching Computational Sociology, Sociological Methods, Economic Sociology, Social Interests Networks Publications Journal articles Schultz, Michael. 2018.\The Problem of Underdetermination in Model Selec- tion." Sociological Methodology 48(1):52-87. Schultz, Michael. 2018.\On the Assumptions of Inferential Model Selection: Response to Vassend and Weakleim." Sociological Methodology 48(1):97- 102. Fligstein, Neil, Jonah Stuart Brundage, and Michael Schultz. 2017.\Seeing Like the Fed: Culture, Cognition, and Framing in the Failure to Antici- pate the Financial Crisis of 2008." American Sociological Review 82(5): 879-909. 1 Feinberg, Matthew, Robb Willer, and Michael Schultz. 2014. \Gossip and Os- tracism Promote Cooperation in Groups." Psychological Science 25(3): 656-664. Book chapters Willer, Robb, Matthew Feinberg, Kyle Irwin, Michael Schultz, and Brent Simpson. 2010. \The Trouble with Invisible Men." in Handbook of the Sociology of Morality. New York: Springer, 315-330.
    [Show full text]
  • On the Historical Sociology of Morality Introduction
    stefan bargheer and nicholas hoover wilson On the Historical Sociology of Morality Introduction T AKEN TO MEAN NORMS AND VALUES, morality was a central building block of American—and partly also European— sociology at the heights of its postwar boom in the 1950s and 1960s. Much of the temporary neglect of morality as an object of sociological inquiry is tied to the demise of structural-functionalism and the selective appropriation of Durkheim’s and Weber’s writings on this topic by scholars such as Talcott Parsons. In recent years, however, morality has resurfaced as an object of sociological inquiry. Sociologists have not only opened up new vistas for empirical research, but also re-evaluated the contributions of classical authors in innovative ways and added new authors to the theoretical agenda. Moreover, these interventions and debates have expanded from sociological theory to include several subfields of the discipline, including cultural sociology, economic sociology, and social psychology. In this special issue we push this recovery of morality further by investigating it from a historical perspective. Historical research on morality is especially important because it offers the opportunity to probe the way in which the intellectual and social architectonics of the concept shift over time—an insight voiced by many classical authors, but overshadowed by structural-functionalism’s essentializing assumptions. The sociology of morality: New, old, and historical To distinguish recent work on morality from structural-functionalism, Stephen Hitlin and Stephen Vaisey [2013b] have introduced the label 1 Stefan Bargheer, UCLA [[email protected]] Nicholas Hoover Wilson, Stony Brook University [[email protected]] European Journal of Sociology, 59, 1 (2018), pp.
    [Show full text]
  • Sociology As Moral Philosophy (And Vice Versa)
    Sociology as Moral Philosophy (and Vice Versa) FRED´ ERIC´ VANDENBERGHE Rio de Janeiro State University Abstract In this article, I want to make an attempt to reconnect sociology to moral philosophy and moral philosophy to sociology. The thesis I want to defend is that sociology continues by other means the venerable tradition of practical and moral philosophy. Like its forebears, it stands and falls with a defense of “practical wisdom” (Aristotle) and “practical reason” (Kant). The development of a moral sociology presupposes, however, that one recognizes and rejects Max Weber’s theory of axiological neutrality as an extremist position and that one carefully articulates prescriptive and descriptive, internal and external, as well as observer and actor positions. Resum´ e´ L’article tente de reconnecter la philosophie morale a` la sociologie et la sociologie a` la philosophie morale. Il soutient la these` selon laquelle la sociologie continue la tradition ven´ erable´ de la philosophie pratique et morale par d’autres moyens. Comme ses pred´ eceseurs,´ la sociologie depend´ d’une defense´ de la “sagesse pratique” (Aristote) et de la “raison pratique” (Kant). Le developpement´ d’une sociologie morale presuppose,´ cependant, que l’on reconnaisse et refute la theorie´ de la neutralite´ axiologique de Max Weber comme une position extremeˆ et que l’on articule soigneusement les positions prescriptive et descriptive, interne et externe, ainsi que celles de l’ observateur et de l ’acteur. A moral philosophy characteristically presupposes a sociology Alasdair MacIntyre: After Virtue (1984:23) This is the first part of a much longer article on moral sociology. The second part is entitled “Sociology as Practical Philosophy and Moral Science” and will be published in Theory, Culture and Society.I thank the two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments.
    [Show full text]
  • Kevin A. Estep
    Estep CV, 8/2017 KEVIN A. ESTEP Department of Cultural and Social Studies Creighton University 2500 California Plaza , Creighton Hall Ste 424 Omaha, NE 68178 [email protected] EDUCATION Ph.D. 2017, University of Notre Dame, Sociology Dissertation: “Opting Out: How Political Context, Political Ideology, and Individualistic Parenting Contribute to Vaccine Refusal in California, 2000-2015” Committee: Rory McVeigh (chair), Kraig Beyerlein, Omar Lizardo, and Erin McDonnell M.A. 2013, University of Notre Dame, Sociology. Thesis: “Constructing a Language Problem” M.Ed. 2009, University of Oklahoma, Adult and Higher Education B.S. 2003, University of Oklahoma, Zoology ACADEMIC EMPLOYMENT 2017-present Assistant Professor in Health Administration and Policy Department of Cultural and Social Studies Creighton University PUBLICATIONS Estep, Kevin. 2017. “Constructing a Language Problem: Status-based Power Devaluation and the Threat of Immigrant Inclusion.” Sociological Perspectives. —Best Graduate Student Paper (Cristina Maria Riegos Award)—ASA Latina/o Sociology Section —Outstanding Graduate Student Paper (Jeanine Becker Award)— Department of Sociology, University of Notre Dame Estep, Kevin. 2017. Review of To Care for Creation: The Emergence of the Religious Environmental Movement by Stephen Ellingson. Mobilization: An International Quarterly 22(2). McVeigh, Rory, Bryant Crubaugh, and Kevin Estep. 2017. “Plausibility Structures, Status Threats, and the Establishment of Anti-Abortion Pregnancy Centers.” American Journal of Sociology. 1 Estep
    [Show full text]
  • ROBB WILLER Department of Sociology 450 Serra Mall, Bldg
    ROBB WILLER Department of Sociology 450 Serra Mall, Bldg. 120 Stanford, CA 94305 [email protected] ________________________________________________________________________ ACADEMIC POSITIONS Professor, Departments of Sociology, Psychology (by courtesy), and Graduate School of Business (by courtesy), Stanford University, 2015-present Associate Professor, Departments of Sociology, Psychology (by courtesy), and Graduate School of Business (by courtesy), Stanford University, 2013-215 Fellow, Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University, 2012-13. Associate Professor, Departments of Sociology and Psychology (by courtesy), University of California, Berkeley, 2012-2013. Visiting Professor, Department of Economic and Social Psychology, University of Cologne, Germany, 2011. Director, Laboratory for Social Research, University of California, Berkeley, 2006-2013. Assistant Professor, Departments of Sociology, Psychology (by courtesy), and Cognitive Science (affiliated faculty), University of California, Berkeley, 2006- 2012. _______________________________________________________________________ EDUCATION Ph.D. Cornell University Sociology, 2006 Dissertation: “A Status Theory of Collective Action” M.A. Cornell University Sociology, 2004 B.A. University of Iowa Sociology, 1999 (with High Distinction) _______________________________________________________________________ 2 Willer ________________________________________________________________________ PUBLICATIONS (* denotes authors contributed equally) Brent Simpson,
    [Show full text]
  • 1 Revision, Reclassification, and Refrigerators* Forthcoming In
    Revision, Reclassification, and Refrigerators* Forthcoming in Sociological Forum Terence E. McDonnell1 Associate Professor of Sociology University of Notre Dame Dustin S. Stoltz2 Assistant Professor of Sociology and Cognitive Science Lehigh University Marshall A. Taylor3 Assistant Professor of Sociology New Mexico State University Acknowledgements: We’d like to thank the University of Virginia’s Sociological Workshop on Aesthetics, Meaning, and Power (especially Fiona Rose Greenland, Isaac Reed, Adam Slez, and Natalie Aviles), the University of Notre Dame’s Culture Workshop (especially David Gibson and Ann Mische) for their excellent feedback and suggestions. This paper has also benefited from conversations with Erin Metz McDonnell, Jennifer Lena, and Michael Wood. Extra special thanks to special issue editors Karen Cerulo and Vanina Leschziner for their leadership. * A replication repository for this paper is available at: https://github.com/Marshall-Soc/rrr 1 Terence E. McDonnell, 4060 Jenkins Nanovic Hall, Department of Sociology, University of Notre Dame ([email protected]). ORCID: 0000-0002-7944-9200. 2 Dustin S. Stoltz, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Lehigh University ([email protected]). ORCID: 0000-0002-4774-0765. 3 Marshall A. Taylor, 292B Science Hall, Department of Sociology, New Mexico State University ([email protected]). ORCID: 0000-0002-7440-0723. 1 Abstract Current debates about cultural change question how and how often change in personal culture happens. Is personal culture stable, or under constant revision through interaction with the environment? While recent empirical work finds attitudes are remarkably stable, this paper argues that typifications—how material tokens are classified as a particular mental type by individuals— are more open to transformation as a result of the fundamentally fuzzy nature of classifying.
    [Show full text]
  • Pluralistic Collapse: the “Oil Spill” Model of Mass Opinion Polarization
    ASRXXX10.1177/0003122420922989American Sociological ReviewDellaPosta 922989research-article2020 American Sociological Review 2020, Vol. 85(3) 507 –536 Pluralistic Collapse: The “Oil © American Sociological Association 2020 https://doi.org/10.1177/0003122420922989DOI: 10.1177/0003122420922989 Spill” Model of Mass Opinion journals.sagepub.com/home/asr Polarization Daniel DellaPostaa Abstract Despite widespread feeling that public opinion in the United States has become dramatically polarized along political lines, empirical support for such a pattern is surprisingly elusive. Reporting little evidence of mass polarization, previous studies assume polarization is evidenced via the amplification of existing political alignments. This article considers a different pathway: polarization occurring via social, cultural, and political alignments coming to encompass an increasingly diverse array of opinions and attitudes. The study uses 44 years of data from the General Social Survey representing opinions and attitudes across a wide array of domains as elements in an evolving belief network. Analyses of this network produce evidence that mass polarization has increased via a process of belief consolidation, entailing the collapse of previously cross-cutting alignments, thus creating increasingly broad and encompassing clusters organized around cohesive packages of beliefs. Further, the increasing salience of political ideology and partisanship only partly explains this trend. The structure of U.S. opinion has shifted in ways suggesting troubling implications for proponents of political and social pluralism. Keywords political polarization, public opinion, belief networks, political pluralism Social and political theorists have long argued prevent disagreement in one arena from esca- that differentiated societies are best able to lating into all-out (metaphorical or literal) integrate diverse interests when relying on a warfare.
    [Show full text]
  • Annette-Lareau-CV-November 2020 0.Pdf
    November 2020 Curriculum Vitae Annette Lareau Edmund J. and Louise W. Kahn Endowed Term Professor in the Social Sciences Department of Sociology University of Pennsylvania 3718 Locust Walk, McNeil Building, Ste. 113 Philadelphia, PA 19104-6299 215 898-3515 (phone) 215 573-2081 (fax) Email: [email protected] EDUCATION 1984 Ph.D., Sociology, University of California, Berkeley 1978 M.A., Sociology, University of California, Berkeley 1974 B.A., Sociology, with Highest honors, University of California, Santa Cruz PUBLICATIONS: BOOKS In press Listening to People: A Practical Guide to Interviews, Participant-Observation, Data Analysis, and Writing It All Up. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 2011 Unequal Childhoods: Race, Class, and Family Life. Second Edition. A Decade Later. University of California Press. [2011/2003] Translated into Chinese, Korean, and Spanish. Reprinted (selections): American Families (Ed. By Stephanie Coontz, Routledge, 2008, 400-417. 2000 [1989] Home Advantage: Social Class and Parental Intervention in Elementary Education, Second Edition, Lanham, MD, Rowan and Littlefield. PUBLICATIONS: EDITED BOOKS 2018 Ritual, Emotion, Violence: Studies on the Micro-Sociology of Randall Collins. (Edited by Elliot Weininger, Annette Lareau, and Omar Lizardo). New York: Routledge. 2014 Choosing Homes, Choosing Schools. (Edited by Annette Lareau and Kimberly Goyette.) New York: The Russell Sage Foundation. 2009 Educational Research on Trial. (Edited by Pamela Barnhouse Walters, Annette Lareau, and Sherri Ranis). New York: Routledge 2008 Social Class: How Does it Work? (Edited by Annette Lareau and Dalton Conley). New York: The Russell Sage Foundation. 1996 Journeys Through Ethnography: Realistic Accounts of Field Research, (Edited by Annette Lareau and Jeff Shultz) Boulder, CO.
    [Show full text]