Unequal Foundations

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven Hitlin ◽  
Sarah K. Harkness
Keyword(s):  
Emotional Experience ◽  
Empirical Support ◽  
Good Deal ◽  
The United States ◽  
Moral Emotions ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Theoretical Argument ◽  
Affect Control Theory ◽  
Affect Control ◽  
Individual Outcomes

This book offers a novel theory and an original use of cross-cultural data to argue that the level of economic inequality in a society is reflected in the emotional experience of its members. People living in societies with greater equality experience more positive, binding emotions on a regular basis, while people living in unequal societies, like the United States, are significantly more likely to regularly experience negative, sanctioning moral emotions. We develop the idea that morality operates at both the societal and individual levels, and develop the thesis that individual moral emotions represent the distal structure of society. We bridge a number of areas in social science, including morality, inequality, social psychology, and the study of emotions. A good deal of work explains how being economically advantaged (or not) contributes to individual tastes, beliefs, values, and choices. Very little work links the extent of the advantages within a society to individual outcomes. We suggest that being advantaged in a relatively equal society leads to different experiences and shared cultures than being advantaged in a highly unequal society. We offer a novel use of established data from a tool drawn from the well-established Affect Control Theory tradition to demonstrate empirical support for our theory. As such, we go beyond previous work by showing data that supports our theory using a method that is designed for cross-cultural comparative research. We aim for this book to stimulate future work via different tools to test our theoretical argument.

Cross-Cultural Study of Ratings of Phenomenological Experience of Emotion

1978 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 583-590 ◽  
Author(s):  
Netta Kohn Dor-Shav ◽  
Zecharia Dor-Shav
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Study ◽  
Emotional Experience ◽  
Good Deal ◽  
Semantic Differential ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Factor Scores ◽  
Factor Analyses ◽  
Cross Cultural Study ◽  
Phenomenological Experience ◽  
Cultural Similarity

The phenomenology of the emotions, anger, fear, sadness, and pride was rated cross-culturally on 23 scales of the semantic-differential, and a hypothesis of cross-cultural agreement was tested. Results were consistent with the hypothesis as 54 of 92 scales (or about 60%) showed similarity across the four cultures, and only 5 scales—a number certainly no greater than would be expected on the basis of chance—yielded ratings which reflected differences in phenomenology, i.e., significant deviations from neutrality lying at opposite poles of a dimension. A Scheffé subset analysis indicated that in two-thirds of our cases all four language-culture groups could be subsumed into one and that there was no case in which at least three of the groups could not be subsumed into one subset. Factor analyses were carried out, and factor scores generated for four factors for each of the four emotions, and across the four language-culture groups. Findings indicated a good deal of cross-cultural similarity (62%). The data are interpreted as supporting a hypothesis of universality in emotional experience.

Affect Control Theory

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven Hitlin ◽  
Sarah K. Harkness
Keyword(s):  
Control Theory ◽  
Social Action ◽  
Empirical Support ◽  
Affect Control Theory ◽  
Affect Control ◽  
Social Events ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Societal Inequality ◽  
The Empirical Analysis ◽  
Broad Overview

This chapter draws on the theoretical and methodological insights from Affect Control theory (ACT), a theory with decades of research and empirical support, to set up our cross-cultural analyses examing our theory of societal inequality. ACT is a formal mathematical theory used to examine how the various facets of social events (such as the identities and emotions) shape ongoing social action. ACT distills the representation of these various facets to their simplest, most universally recognized dimensions of meaning: evaluation (good vs. bad), potency (powerful vs. weak), and activity (fast vs. slow). ACT then provides a way of understanding and modeling social interactions so that it is possible to empirically compare the likely emotions resulting from the same types of interactions in various cultures. The chapter gives a broad overview of the theory so that the reader understands why it is useful and provides justification for the empirical analysis used in the book.

Conclusions

2019 ◽  
pp. 259-276
Author(s):  
Jeffrey W. Taliaferro
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
East Asia ◽  
South Asia ◽  
Empirical Support ◽  
The United States ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Theoretical Argument ◽  
Realist Theory ◽  
The Core ◽  
Ultimate Objective

Chapter 7 undertakes three tasks. First, it summarizes the core theoretical argument and the empirical support for the neoclassical realist theory, nuclear domino theory, credible sanctions theory, and security commitment theory hypotheses found inthe previous four chapters. The main take-away of the book is the following: The nonproliferation strategies the United States pursued toward vulnerable allies in the Middle East, East Asia, and South Asia were inextricably linked to broader Cold War dynamics, as tempered by each administration’s ability to mobilize support or defuse opposition in Congress. The ultimate objective of each administration, from Kennedy to H. W. Bush, was to contain the Soviet Union's influence in the Middle East and South Asia or to enlist China as an ally of convenience against the Soviets in East Asia. Second, Chapter 7 highlights several theoretical implications of this argument and avenues for future research. Third, the chapter briefly considers what neoclassical realist theory would suggest for some dilemmas in contemporary US foreign policy.

Ideal Types of Leadership as Patterns of Affective Meaning

2012 ◽  
Vol 75 (3) ◽  
pp. 268-287 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andreas Schneider ◽  
Tobias Schröder
Keyword(s):  
Max Weber ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Charismatic Leadership ◽  
The United States ◽  
Affect Control Theory ◽  
Affective Meaning ◽  
Ideal Types ◽  
Cross Cultural Communication ◽  
Affect Control ◽  
Affective Meanings

We propose that macro-level ideal types of leadership, as described in the classic work of Max Weber and reflected in the contemporary management literature, are mirrored in micro-level affective meanings. Within Osgood’s three-dimensional affective space, we identify specific patterns corresponding to leadership styles: people evaluate authoritative/transactional leadership as positive, powerful, and neither passive nor active. Charismatic/transformational leadership is perceived as equally positive and powerful but involves a much higher degree of activity-arousal. Finally, coercive leadership is negative, powerful, and active. Based on Heise’s cybernetic symbolic-interactionist affect control theory, we compare cultural representations of business managers in the United States and Germany at different points in time. We demonstrate a shift from transactional to charismatic leadership in the U.S. manager stereotype and a contrasting consolidation of coercive leadership expectations in Germany. We discuss implications for (1) cross-cultural communication and (2) affective meaning as indicator of social change.

scholarly journals Who Is Presidential? Women’s Political Representation, Deflection, and the 2016 Election

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 237802311773789 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kaitlin M. Boyle ◽  
Chase B. Meyer
Keyword(s):  
Political Representation ◽  
State Level ◽  
The United States ◽  
Women In Politics ◽  
Hillary Clinton ◽  
Affect Control Theory ◽  
Presidential Nomination ◽  
Voter Preferences ◽  
Affect Control ◽  
2016 Election

In 2016, Hillary Clinton was the first woman to gain the presidential nomination from a major political party in the United States, yet she was unsuccessful. The current study explores barriers to being elected as president for women generally and Hillary Clinton specifically. Using the propositions and tools of affect control theory, we demonstrate how women’s political representation shapes cultural sentiments about women and the president. In a nationwide sample of Americans surveyed shortly before the election, we find women’s representation on the state level influences voter preferences through these cultural sentiments: More women in politics makes a woman president feel less deflecting, which is associated with a greater likelihood of voting for Clinton. We also demonstrate how sentiments about Clinton—as an individual, not merely a woman running for president—conflict with Democratic voters’ expectations for presidential qualities and behaviors, which may have further prevented victory in 2016.

Terrified

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher A. Bail
Keyword(s):  
Public Discourse ◽  
The United States ◽  
September 11 ◽  
Theoretical Argument ◽  
Muslim Americans ◽  
Media Messages ◽  
American Media ◽  
The Face ◽  
September 11 Attacks ◽  
The Public Sphere

In July 2010, Terry Jones, the pastor of a small fundamentalist church in Florida, announced plans to burn two hundred Qur'ans on the anniversary of the September 11 attacks. Though he ended up canceling the stunt in the face of widespread public backlash, his threat sparked violent protests across the Muslim world that left at least twenty people dead. This book demonstrates how the beliefs of fanatics like Jones are inspired by a rapidly expanding network of anti-Muslim organizations that exert profound influence on American understanding of Islam. The book traces how the anti-Muslim narrative of the political fringe has captivated large segments of the American media, government, and general public, validating the views of extremists who argue that the United States is at war with Islam and marginalizing mainstream Muslim-Americans who are uniquely positioned to discredit such claims. Drawing on cultural sociology, social network theory, and social psychology, the book shows how anti-Muslim organizations gained visibility in the public sphere, commandeered a sense of legitimacy, and redefined the contours of contemporary debate, shifting it ever outward toward the fringe. The book illustrates the author's pioneering theoretical argument through a big-data analysis of more than one hundred organizations struggling to shape public discourse about Islam, tracing their impact on hundreds of thousands of newspaper articles, television transcripts, legislative debates, and social media messages produced since the September 11 attacks. The book also features in-depth interviews with the leaders of these organizations, providing a rare look at how anti-Muslim organizations entered the American mainstream.

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