Mapping Cultural Schemas: From Theory to Method

2019 ◽  
Vol 84 (5) ◽  
pp. 950-981 ◽  
Author(s):  
M.B. Fallin Hunzaker ◽  
Lauren Valentino

A growing body of research in sociology uses the concept of cultural schemas to explain how culture influences beliefs and actions. However, this work often relies on belief or attitude measures gleaned from survey data as indicators of schemas, failing to measure the cognitive associations that constitute schemas. In this article, we propose a concept-association-based approach for collecting data about individuals’ schematic associations, and a corresponding method for modeling concept network representations of shared cultural schemas. We use this method to examine differences between liberal and conservative schemas of poverty in the United States, uncovering patterns of associations expected based on previous research. Examining the structure of schematic associations provides novel insights to long-standing empirical questions regarding partisan attitudes toward poverty. Our method yields a clearer picture of what poverty means for liberals and conservatives, revealing how different concepts related to poverty indeed mean fundamentally different things for these two groups. Finally, we show that differences in schema structure are predictive of individuals’ policy preferences.

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 2513826X2110289
Author(s):  
Vitali Bagirov

Breast augmentation is the most frequently performed cosmetic surgery in the United States, with approximately 279,000 patients every year. The so-called double-bubble effect (DBE) is a common complication in breast augmentation. This complication is characterized by folds running along the lower pole of the breast, forming distinct bubble-like protrusions above and below the fold. Factors that increase the risk of DBE include bulbous breasts and a large native breast volume. There is evidence that polyurethane-coated (PU) implants may help to reduce the risk of DBE. We describe here the case of a 47-year old patient for whom DBE has recurred in each of 4 tandem breast surgeries. PU implants ultimately appeared to prevent the DBE, leading to an aesthetically satisfying treatment result for the patient. This case adds weigh to the growing body of evidence that supports the use of polyurethane implants to prevent DBE.


ILR Review ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 55 (4) ◽  
pp. 610-627 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas C. Buchmueller ◽  
John Dinardo ◽  
Robert G. Valletta

During the past two decades, union density has declined in the United States and employer provision of health benefits has changed substantially in extent and form. Using individual survey data spanning the years 1983–97 combined with employer survey data for 1993, the authors update and extend previous analyses of private-sector union effects on employer-provided health benefits. They find that the union effect on health insurance coverage rates has fallen somewhat but remains large, due to an increase over time in the union effect on employee “take-up” of offered insurance, and that declining unionization explains 20–35% of the decline in employee health coverage. The increasing union take-up effect is linked to union effects on employees' direct costs for health insurance and the availability of retiree coverage.


Commonwealth ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua J. Weikert

The 2018 elections saw a record number of women running for elected office in the United States and in Pennsylvania, but whether this represents a temporary wave or a lasting trend is not clear. Using a combination of survey data; interviews of new candidates, elected officeholders, and party officials; and election data, this study examines the gender equality gains of 2018 in Pennsylvania’s legislature in historical and political context. The data provide evidence that formal recruitment of female candidates was common (but not universal), that the number of women running for and winning office increased by historic (and not just significant) levels, and that a persistent and consistent motivation was discernible in large portions of the candidate body. Survey measures of female candidate persistence—whether they plan to run again or recruit new candidates—also indicate that women intend to remain similarly active after the 2018 election cycle has come and gone.


2007 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-117 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paula D. McClain ◽  
Monique L. Lyle ◽  
Niambi M. Carter ◽  
Victoria M. DeFrancesco Soto ◽  
Gerald F. Lackey ◽  
...  

AbstractDramatic demographic changes are occurring in the United States, and some of the most dramatic changes are occurring in the South from Latino immigration. Latinos, by and large, are an entirely new population in the region. How are Black southerners reacting to this new population? Using survey data gathered from a southern location, this article explores several questions related to whether Blacks see these new residents as friendly neighbors or economic competitors. Results suggest that Blacks and non-Blacks perceive a potential economic threat from continued Latino immigration, but Blacks are more concerned about the effects of Latino immigration than are Whites.


Author(s):  
Peter Hart-Brinson

This chapter introduces the concepts of generational change, generational theory, and the social imagination, and it describes how they can help us understand the evolution of public opinion about gay marriage in the United States and the role that public opinion played in the legalization of gay marriage. It introduces the thesis that the changing social imagination was the key cultural and cognitive development that led young cohorts to develop more supportive attitudes about gay marriage while also causing older cohorts to rethink their prior opinions. It explains how the imagination both produces and draws from the cultural schemas that we use to make sense of the world and why different groups can develop different cultural schemas. It concludes by describing the overall plan of the book and the author’s standpoint.


2021 ◽  
pp. 199-214
Author(s):  
Emily Van Duyn

Chapter 8 reviews the focus of this book—how and why people keep their politics a secret—based on observations of CWG and the survey data. This chapter argues that the existence of political secrecy says that the democracy in the United States is dark. That the fear laid bare in the women’s experiences and the sizeable number of people who engage in secret political expression are evidence that liberal democratic norms are being threatened. But it also considers how political secrecy might tell us that democracy is alive. That people continue in the face of opposition and that secrecy can be a tool to help people engage in politics when they feel it is risky. Finally, this chapter addresses the implications for practitioners, asking them to consider the ways in which they privilege public expression, and encouraging them to consider this an inaccurate picture of the public itself.


Author(s):  
Rachel K. Gibson

This chapter examines developments in digital campaigning in the United States during the period 1994–2012. It does so by reviewing the findings from the secondary literature, and conducting original analysis of web content and national survey data. These data sources build a picture of key changes in the supply and demand for digital campaigning in the United States and particularly whether they fit the four-phase model of development. The results show that the model fits, and that US parties and voters were considerably faster in engaging with web campaigning than was the case elsewhere. This enthusiasm appeared to be driven, to an extent, by the more conducive regulatory environment and also innovation among left-wing organizations and particularly the Democrats from the middle of the first decade of the 2000s. Their ability to sustain activist involvement in their online cause beyond 2008, however, is challenged by the author’s findings.


Author(s):  
Rachel K. Gibson

This chapter examines developments in digital campaigning in comparative perspective. It does so using survey data from Wave 4 of the Comparative Study of Electoral Systems (CSES) to measure the extent of digital voter contact occurring in eighteen countries (2011–2015). Based on the understanding that extensive voter mobilization is a key feature of a country’s entry into phase IV digital campaigning, the authors infer which nations have progressed more rapidly through the four phases, and are thus most advanced in their use of digital campaign tools. Using this measure, they find that the United States is the most advanced nation and Thailand the least. They investigate the rankings more systematically using multilevel modeling techniques, and find that presidential elections and higher internet penetration rates are most predictive of higher rates of digital campaign contact. The results are helpful in building expectations about the digital campaign performance of the four national case studies.


2015 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. e6833 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Koch ◽  
Jeffrey Lozier ◽  
James Strange ◽  
Harold Ikerd ◽  
Terry Griswold ◽  
...  

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