Association News

Philip E. Converse: Beginnings An Intellectual History Phil Converse grew up in New England, of the APSA President but has been associated with the Mid- west since his undergraduate years at Denison University in Granville, Ohio. At Herbert F. Weisberg Denison, he majored in English literature, Ohio State University with much additional work in compara- tive literature. Also it was at Denison that Philip E. Converse, 1983-84 president of he met his wife Jean. After graduating the Association, is one of the. leading from Denison, he entered the creative survey researchers in the social sciences. writing program of the State University His work has given a of Iowa and obtained a master's degree much better understanding of the social- in English literature. That was followed psychological basis of public attitudes by army service in the Chicago area and toward politics. the many years since then in Michigan.

APSA President Philip Converse chats at the annual meeting with Program Chairs Ada Finifter (1982) of Michigan State University and Doris Graber (1984) of the University of Illinois at Chicago and Women's Caucus President Marian L. Palley of the University of Delaware.

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Phil met the people in the program and realized it was one of the top social psychology programs in the country. At- tending a speech at the Michigan Union given by Warren Miller on the 1952 elec- tion survey, Phil was intrigued with this approach to politics, asking Miller after- wards if they had given any thought to reinterviewing the same respondents over time. Miller, pleased to find some- one with writing skills interested in the area, encouraged him to pursue graduate work in the field. After the army service ended, the Con- verses followed through with their plans for a year in Europe, with Phil studying at the University of Paris. Returning to Ann Arbor, Phil took a master's degree in sociology as a prelude to pursuing a doc- torate there in social psychology. The leaders in the social psychology program at the time were Ted Newcomb and Dan Katz, along with Helen Peak, Doc Cart- wright, Jack French, Al Zander, and, of course, Angus Campbell. The program was an ideal training ground from which Converse could move in any direction in the social sciences. At that time the social psychology pro- Program Chair Herbert Weisberg of Ohio State gram was a pipeline to the Institute for University presides over the awards ceremony Social Research (which still had little con- at the first plenary session of the 1983 annual nection with the political science depart- meeting. ment). As a result, when Converse inter- viewed in 1956 with Angus Campbell for Phil's interests began to shift from the a research job (Warren Miller was away world of literature and creative writing to at Berkeley that year), he soon found research and social science during those himself assistant study director on the years in Iowa and Chicago. His enjoy- 1956 election study. Phil was respon- ment of research and fascination with the sible, among other duties, for developing analysis of data first became evident at new questions on the influence of social the State while trans- groups on the vote. The results became lating a 13th century French book to the core of his dissertation. compare it with Chaucer's translation of After the 1956 election study was com- the same book. While in the army, he had pleted. Warren Miller insisted that it was time for reading history and soon realized important to prepare a book length report he was interested in social science. on the 1950s election surveys. Angus His association with Ann Arbor began vir- Campbell's initial misgivings were over- tually accidentally in the last few months come, and soon Campbell, Converse, of his army service when he was sta- Miller, and Don Stokes were meeting tioned in Battle Creek, Michigan. Jean weekly, going over their draft chapters. went to the in the Recall that this was the era before com- fall of 1952 to work on her teaching puters were used by social scientists, so credits. Soon she was helping with the the analysis was done primarily by campus Adlai Stevenson campaign counter sorter. Phil's dissertation analy- which was centered around the social sis of social group influence was re- psychology program there. As a result, flected in The American Voter, along

718 PS Fall 1983 with his work on the ideological level of But his major work of this genre is un- conceptualization of the electorate. doubtedly his classic chapter on "The Phil returned to France on a Fulbright Nature of Belief Systems in Mass Pub- Fellowship in 1959-60 at which point lics" (1964). To avoid the confusion of he began a collaboration with George the multiple meanings of the term "ideol- Depeux on French politics. His teaching ogy," the concepts of belief system, cen- in the sociology department at Michigan trality of an idea-element, and constraint began in 1960. The American Voter was of idea-elements are introduced. He published that year and truly revolution- shows the severe limits to the public's ized the study of elections. In 1963 Phil recognition and understanding of the was appointed associate professor of terms "conservatism" and "liberalism," political science at Michigan. and shows how this relates to the level of conceptualization of the electorate. The His writings since then reflect the variety constraint is shown to be higher among of interests which were already evident an elite sample of congressional can- in his early work. There is a focus on the didates than among the mass public and social psychology of political behavior is shown to be higher when the object is generally and, more specifically, the a social grouping of high centrality. The understanding of voting behavior, often stability of belief elements over time is set within the framework of his cross- explored. He finds greatest stability for cultural interests. At the same time, there partisanship and low over-time stability is the development and use of sophis- for issues with low centrality, and ex- ticated analysis methods, not for meth- plains this result in terms of a "black-and- odological effect but always to answer white" model in which some respon- important substantive questions. dents have perfectly stable attitudes while others change randomly but with- out any meaningful change over time. The overall direction of this work is to dis- The Social Psychology of count the ideological level of the elec- Political Behavior torate, but at the end Converse intro- duces the concept of issue publics to Converse's contributions to social psy- allow for the deep concern that particular chology began with his earliest writings. sets of citizens have about particular In the 1960s, for example, he col- issues. This tour de force concludes with laborated with Newcomb and Turner on a discussion of the relationship between the text Social Psychology: The Study of elites with distinctive ideologies and the Human Interactions. His research articles mass public, with case studies of the applied social psychology to political abolition movement and the formation of behavior, showing a concern with under- the Republican party and the mass base standing cognitive processes, such as of the Nazi party. This chapter has set the effects of information on political the terms for most of our subsequent decision-making and how multiple dimen- understanding and analysis of the ideo- sions underlie political attitudes. Thus, the relationship between media intake logical level of the public. and party defection was shown to be cur- Additionally, the social psychologist's vilinear, with highest defection rates for concern with discovering common psy- those with the most information and chological processes underlying ap- those few with no media input, in "Infor- parently discrepant human behavior is mation Flow and the Stability of Partisan evident in his comparative work. Con- Attitudes" (1962). "The Problem of Par- verse repeatedly demonstrates how com- ty Distances in Models of Voting mon processes can account for partisan Change" (1966) was not only the first patterns across countries even where study to apply a multidimensional model there are superficial differences. For to partisan competition (here in France example, in "The Politicization of the and Finland) but showed how different Electorate in France and the United sets of voters could place different States" (1962) Converse and George emphases on the different dimensions. Depeux show how apparent differences

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in levels of partisanship in two countries young adults, and considered the possi- were consistent with similar transmission bilities of realignment in the South. rates across generations. His later study His analysis is critical to our conventional "Of Time and Partisan Stability" (1969) understanding of the workings of ideol- shows how levels of partisanship across ogy, party identification, and issue fac- five nations are consistent with a single tors in affecting voting. The ideological model of partisan learning, resistance, level of the electorate is shown by Con- transmission, and forgetting. verse to be limited. Partisanship is in- stead the major long-term influence on The Voting Studies the vote decision. The normal vote repre- sents the long-term partisan baseline. Converse has also been central to the Partisanship is seen as stable, but with an Michigan election studies. His contribu- increase in strength associated with the tions to Elections and the Political Order life cycle. Issues have a limited role in (1966) included introducing "The Con- elections, because different voters focus cept of a Normal Vote" and applying it to on different issues. But all of this is determine the importance of the religious embedded in a rich theory with a deep factor in the 1960 election. "Electoral understanding of political dynamics that Myth and Reality" (1965) demonstrated critics often miss when they focus on the how Goldwater could have lost so bareboned outline without rereading the decisively in 1964 when Republican original sources. elites perceived substantial support for Three major works now summarize Con- his conservative positions. In "Continu- verse's research on voting behavior and ity and Change in American Politics" public opinion. First, his chapter on (1969) he helped account for the effects "Change in the American Electorate" (in of the Wallace candidacy on the 1968 The Human Meaning of Social Change, campaign. Other work in the 1960s com- 1972) takes an historical look at voting pared the support of de Gaulle and Eisen- trends, using Jerrold G. Rusk's analysis hower, examined nonvoting among and Converse's own thinking, to counter

REGISTRY OF RETIRED PROFESSORS The Registry of Retired Professors of the Association serves as an information exchange for retired professors who desire to teach one or more courses on a one semester or one year basis. The Registry is available to Association members without charge. Individuals interested in registering should request forms and return them to the Association to the attention of the Director of the Registry of Retired Professors.

These resume forms will be maintained by the Association and copies will be forwarded to inquiring institutions where fields of interest match. If the institution is interested in a particular professor, it will contact that individual directly. Members are asked to inform the Association when they wish to inactivate their file or add up-to-date information on their plans and availability. We will continue to make referrals as long as we do not hear otherwise. Contact: Registry of Retired Professors American Political Science Association 1527 New Hampshire Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20036 720 PS Fall 1983 j Walter Dean Burnham's claims about the him constantly aware of the true limita- weakening of the electorate after the tions of the data, a recognition which is 1890s and then turning to more recent missing for many of the younger genera- changes, including the politicization of tion of analysts of public opinion data. southern blacks, partisan change in the This understanding of the limits of the South, and the erosion of partisan fidel- data is emphasized in "Attitudes and ity, and finally reflecting on the role of Nonattitudes" (1963) where he devel- education in the upgrading of the elec- oped the concept of a "nonattitude" to torate. His report on "Public Opinion and account for a pattern of cross-time issue Voting Behavior" in the Handbook of correlations in the 1950s panel study Political Science (1975) is a massive which did not fit an orderly (Markov) summary statement of his views on the change process. Howard Schuman and state of the knowledge in these fields. Converse later applied this understanding Additionally, his reports with Greg of the limits of public opinion data to mis- Markus on the 1972-74-76 panel study conceptions of the polling on popular in the 1979 American Political Science support for the war effort in "Silent Ma- Review reexamine the overtime stability jorities and the Vietnam War" (1970). of survey questions and develop a com- His writings are unusual in combining an prehensive dynamic simultaneous-equa- interest in modelling with his statistical tion model of the vote. analysis. He can enjoy developing a Converse has studied voting behavior not model which can predict well with mini- only in the , but has also mal concern for the internal dynamics of been active in extending the use of the black box (as in his predictions of the survey research cross-nationally. In addi- performance of athletic teams), but more tion to major work on France and often his research is devoted to seeking Canada, he has been important in helping process models which are consistent to develop a survey research community with observed data (as in the study of in Brazil. And he has joined Henry Valen cross-national differences in strength of in applying scaling models to explore partisanship and in the study of attitude dimensions of party cleavage in Norway. change between panel waves). Converse's impact has been considerable not only in research but in the teaching of methodology. He has taught in the sum- mer program of the Inter-university Con- Methodology sortium for Political and Social Research since its inception, introducing countless Converse was one of the first to recog- social scientists to quantitative methods nize the value of panel studies for under- generally and panel analysis more standing political behavior. He was not specifically. His instructional style is not content with just tracing change across that of the methodologist trying to im- time, but instead examined the change press students with his mathematical patterns. His first analysis of panel data skills, but rather that of the substantive was of the 1956-58-60 U.S. election scholar who uses statistical techniques panel. He has continued that focus with when they are necessary. Indeed that his analysis of the 1972-74-76 U.S. trait is visible in his research, where he panel study and a study of political repre- does not run out to be the first to apply sentation in France that includes panel the newest techniques but instead feels data collected before and after the May- free to develop new models to help ad- June upheaval of 1968 that was the dress his substantive concerns—such as largest post-war revolt in Western the black-and-white model for analysis of Europe. He has used the panel data to panel data and taking differences in demonstrate the real limitations of the individual emphasis on dimensions into public's focus on political issues. account years before the mathematical He brings to the analysis of survey data psychologists formalized similar thinking an unusual appreciation of their frailty. in their individual differences scaling His own interviewing experiences make model. 721 Association News

Converse's Contributions American Association for the Advance- ment of Science. He has received Doctor Converse's several books in the 1970s of Humane Letters degrees at his alma exhibit the unusual breadth of his in- mater Denison University and at the Uni- terests. Vietnam and the Silent Majority: versity of Chicago. He has been a Gug- The Dove's Guide with Rosenberg and genheim Fellow and a fellow at the Verba further examines the meaning and Center for Advanced Study in the limits of survey data on the war. The Behavioral Sciences where he is now on Human Meaning of Social Change, edited the Board of Trustees. He is also on the with Angus Campbell, The Use of Time, Board of Trustees of the Russell Sage and The Quality of American Life reflect Foundation. He has been President of the some of his sociological interests. The International Society of Political Psychol- Dynamics of Party Support documents ogy and is now President of the American age effects on strength of partisanship. Political Science Association. The American Social Attitudes Data Sourcebook with Dotson, Hoag, and By reminding survey research in political McGee compiles data from the Michigan science of its social psychology under- election studies of the 1950s to 1970s pinnings, Converse's work has helped on a variety of sociological topics. the study of political behavior to become more scientific. At the same time his en- The importance of Converse's work is joyment of research has served as an reflected in many ways. It has been example to both colleagues and stu- seminal to a large number of further dents. studies by other scholars. It brought social psychological concepts into the Finally, it is difficult to summarize the study of political attitudes. It has pro- human qualities of this very private man. voked controversy, as witnessed by the He is long in accomplishments, but has a exchanges between Converse and critics practical, self-deprecating personal style in the pages of several journals. And it that makes him easy to talk to. He is very makes Converse the most cited author in much liked personally by the many who the thousands of citations in the APSA know him. He is a hard worker, long ago book on Political Science: The State of becoming a legend at the Institute for the Discipine. Social Research for coming in to work late at night, signing out in the check-in Phil had always enjoyed research more book at the door at the same time he than administration, but with Warren signs in so that he could have some un- Miller's departure from Michigan, Phil disturbed work time with no one knowing took over the directorship of the Center he is behind his office door. He has for Political Studies in 1982. But his played an important role on the disserta- research continues. He and Roy Pierce tion committees of countless students, are completing their book-length manu- both by way of supervision and by way script on political representation in of inspiration and support. As a token of France. Phil also continues to work with the respect that he inspires among stu- Duane Alwin on research on the quality dents, nine students on whose commit- of life. And inevitably he will return to tees he served in the late 1970s formed American electoral studies. . "Converse's All Stars baseball team." At this time, Philip E. Converse is Robert He was playing a significant role in each Cooley Angell Distinguished Professor of of their committees, sometimes by prod- Sociology and Political Science at the ding on to completion those perfection- University of Michigan, Director of the ists who seemed unable to finish their Center for Political Studies of the In- dissertations. The team equipped them- stitute for Social Research, and Associ- selves with appropriate jerseys and caps, ate Director of the Inter-university Con- designating Converse as their manager. sortium for Political and Social Research. As they finished their dissertations and He is a member of the National Academy received the Ph.D.s, their numbers were of Sciences, as well as the American officially retired at a ceremony when they Academy of Arts and Sciences and the gave their jerseys to the club manager. D

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