Elite Cues and Economic Policy Attitudes: The Mediating Role of Economic Hardship

Do voters update their attitudes toward economic issues in line with their material self-interest? The consensus among students of public opinion is that material self-interest plays a very limited role and that competing non-material factors, such as partisanship or ideological predispositions, do most of the heavy lifting. This paper moves beyond comparing the role of material and non-material factors. Instead, we examine how these factors combine to shape policy preferences. Specifically, we propose a friendly amendment to Zaller’s influential model according to which attitudinal change results from the interaction between changes in elite messaging on the one hand and individual political predispositions on the other. In Zaller’s model, partisanship and ideological predispositions help explain why some resist and others embrace new elite messaging. We hypothesize that material self-interest also conditions the effect of elite messaging. Using British individual-level panel data collected over more than a decade, we show that material hardship predicts who, among left-wing voters, resist new right-wing partisan cues. Our results highlights the incremental impact of material self-interest on economic attitudes.

A System Justification Theory of Entrepreneurial Attitudinal Change During a Crisis

Entrepreneurship resilience during a crisis is an important research area. However, prior research has not examined cognitive antecedents of entrepreneurial resilience. Using the 2014 oil price crisis in the Middle East as a natural experiment, we draw on system justification theory to understand why and how entrepreneurs differ in the extent of their attitudinal changes toward corruption. We find foreign entrepreneurs substantially increased their willingness to engage in corruption whereas local entrepreneurs did not. Among foreign entrepreneurs, corruption willingness increases more among those from countries where corruption is not the norm, than those from more corrupt home countries.

Causal Effects, Migration and Legacy Studies

Social scientists have long been interested in the persistent effects of history on contemporary behavior and attitudes. To estimate legacy effects, studies typically compare people living in places that were historically exposed to some event and those that were not. Using principal stratification, we provide a formal framework to analyze how migration limits our ability to learn about the persistent effects of history from observed differences between historically exposed and unexposed places. We state the necessary assumptions about movement behavior to causally identify legacy effects. We highlight that these assumptions are strong; therefore, we recommend that legacy studies circumvent bias by collecting data on people's place of residence at the exposure time. Reexamining a study on the persistent effects of US civil-rights protests, we show that observed attitudinal differences between residents and non-residents of historic protest sites are more likely due to migration rather than attitudinal change.

Pets, People, and the Enduring ‘Dogaturgy’ of Nineteenth-Century Dog Dramas

Dogs began playing new roles as emotional companions in Eurowestern households during the mid-1800s; by the 1880s, dogs were widely considered ‘family members’ in middle-class homes. The nineteenth-century ‘dog drama’, a type of melodrama, helps illuminate how, when, and why this attitudinal change occurred. The transatlantic appeal of dog dramas (such as René-Charles Guilbert de Pixérécourt's 1814 melodrama The Dog of Montargis) and performers who specialised in the genre (such as U.S. actor-entrepreneur Edwin Blanchard) suggest that sentimental stories about dogs appealed to working-class people as well. These plays reflected, and perhaps contributed to, changing views about dogs during the nineteenth century. The dog drama and its afterlives (in film, television, and social media) shed light on both the good intentions and troubling contradictions inherent in humans’ relationships with nonhuman animals, especially pets.

Evil and Meaningful Existence: A Humanistic Response through the Lens of Classical Theism

This study modestly proposes a humanistic response as supplementary to classical theism in addressing concrete cases of gratuitous human suffering. Classical theism places evil in God’s divine plan of salvation for humanity. There is thus a good reason behind human suffering. However, there are times when suffering is so intense and dehumanising that any attempt to justify it in terms of God’s love for humanity fails to make sense in the lives of most people. It is at this point that a humanistic response, coupled with spiritual guidance, becomes relevant. A humanistic response expresses itself through an African ethical theory and practice known as Ubuntu. It pivots on key human values such as love, compassion, trust, consideration, dialogue, forgiveness, solidarity, justice as equity, etc. It is in a spirit of togetherness that most existential challenges can be squarely faced to make human life more meaningful. Ultimately, a humanistic response recommends a change of attitude towards human suffering. Suffering should be seen as part of what it means to Be in this finite world, and that it is in one’s struggle towards the heights that one finds a sense in living. Keywords: Evil, Classical Theism, Humanistic Response (Ubuntu), Attitudinal Change.

THE EFFECTS OF BLUE DOCUMENTARY ON VIEWERS’ PERCEPTIONS AND ATTITUDINAL CHANGE TOWARD MARINE LIFE CONSERVATION

Background and Purpose: This study’s aim was to examine the persuasive effects of a blue documentary (BD), representing marine life extinction on viewers’ perceptions and their attitudinal change toward conservation. Methodology: This study selected 36 participants using purposive sampling technique, according to the characteristics of their location and age categories. A total of 72 semi-structured interviews were conducted in two stages – the pre- and post-viewing of the documentary. A documentary program of Lestari Ujana Marin (LUM) was the media text used in gathering the necessary data. The data were then perused qualitatively through the employment of thematic analysis. Findings: The findings suggest that the participants’ perceptions and attitudinal changes were more positive toward marine life conservation after being exposed to the documentary. The attitudinal changes have been sustainable and exhibited through the participants’ real actions in supporting marine life conservation. Contributions: This study paves the way for collaboration between experts in different fields, such as filmmakers, oceanologists, and non-governmental organizations, who are fundamentally concerned in disseminating knowledge about environmental conservation for the benefits of future generations. Keywords: Media, blue documentary, persuasion, pro-conservation, marine life, young generation. Cite as: Mat, N. H., Rashid, R. A., Che Noh, C. H., & Said Al-Rawahi, M. A. (2021). The effects of blue documentaries on viewers’ perceptions and attitudinal change toward marine life conservation. Journal of Nusantara Studies, 6(2), 379-402. http://dx.doi.org/10.24200/jonus.vol6iss2pp379-402

Assessing the Media for Effective Education towards Attitudinal Change during COVID-19 Outbreak in Lagos, Nigeria

ABSTRACT This study examined the media for effective education towards attitudinal change during COVID-19 outbreak in Lagos, Nigeria. This study was anchored on agenda setting and social marketing theories to understand the potential role of the media for health communication interventions. The survey research method was used, while the online questionnaire served as the data instrument. The results showed that almost half of the study sample indicated that they had read sufficient number of newspaper reports on COVID-19 in Nigeria, while more than 30 percent of the respondents had occasionally read newspaper reports on COVID-19 in Nigeria. It was recommended that television and social media platforms should be used to tailor messages that can demonstrate the nature and dangers of viral disease such as COVID-19 so as to influence positive priority behaviours.