Violation Of Social Norms Research Articles

Providing public assistance: Cognitive and motivational processes underlying liberal and conservative policy preferences.

Previous research in a wide variety of policy domains (e.g., azidothymidine for AIDS patients, lowincome housing) has indicated that under no scarcity, liberals tend to help all claimants for assistance, whereas conservatives withhold assistance from people who are personally responsible for their predicament (Skitka & Tetlock, 1992). Three studies explore 6 explanations for this robust finding: deterrence, self-interest, punitiveness, mindlessness, value orientation, and avoidance of trade-off reasoning. The findings shed light on both the cognitive strategies and motivational priorities of liberals and conservatives. It was discovered that liberals are not mindlessly egalitarian, but try to avoid socially awkward value trade-offs that require placing monetary values on lives. By contrast, conservatives are motivated to punish violators of social norms (e.g., deviations from traditional norms of sexuality or responsible behavior) and to deter free riders. The United States is still one of the most prosperous countries in the world. However, millions of people are destitute and rely on the generosity of the community for their survival. What obligations does the community have to these people? What responsibilities do these people have to the community? Answers to these basic questions depend largely on one's political point of view. In the 1960s, the Johnson administration declared war on poverty and the welfare state proliferated. In the 1980s and early 1990s, many political leaders concluded that the welfare state was a failure, and stressed the virtues of self-reliance and free markets. The political pendulum appears to swing between individualism and egalitarianism (albeit not with the clocklike regularity some suppose; cf. Schlesinger, 1986). Survey research reveals that attitudes toward social welfare are consistently correlated with ideologically patterned attributions for poverty (Sniderman, Hagen, Tetlock, & Brady, 1986). Conservatives blame poverty on self-indulgen ce and lack of moral standards and intelligence. Liberals see the poor as victims of unjust social practices and structures. These ideological differences in attributions for poverty predict a willingness to expand social programs. Liberals generally favor increased spending on social programs, whereas conservatives oppose such spending (Feather, 1985; Kluegel, 1990; Kluegel & Smith, 1986; Sniderman & Tetlock, 1986; Williams, 1984).

Chapter 5: The Relationship of Individual Children's Mathematical Conceptual Development to Small-Group Interactions

This chapter elaborates our understanding of small-group problem solving in elementary school mathematics by focusing on the relationship between children's individual mathematical conceptions and the nature of their social interactions as they work together in small-group problem-solving settings. In particular, the manner in which children's individual mathematical conceptions influence the nature of the social interactions that take place is explained. Previously we have focused on the importance of the social interactions that occur in small-group settings in proving unique opportunities for learning (Yackel et al., 1991) and on the negotiation of classroom social norms that facilitate collaboration. As we analyzed small-group interactions, we were able to trace the development of cooperative activity between partners. Initially, children typically divided the labor, taking turns as they completed the activities. Under the guidance of the teacher, social norms for small-group activity were negotiated that resulted in children reconceptualizing their understanding of work cooperatively from division of labor to working together to complete the instructional activities. Working together came to be understood as explaining your thinking to your partner, listening to your partner's explanations, and jointly developing a solution. Thus, situations in which children failed to work collaboratively were interpreted as situations where the participants were violating the social norms. However, as we continued to analyze the small-group data, we found that some social interactions that we had previously explained only as violations of social norms could be further interpreted by taking the children's individual mathematical conceptions into account. The analysis shows that children's conceptions

The Manufacture of `Public Opinion' by Reporters: Informal Cues for Public Perceptions of Protest Groups

This study examines how conceptions of `public opinion' are embedded within news-coverage of social protests at two levels: the micro-level in terms of informal characterizations of public opinion and the macro-level in terms of general conceptions of public opinion. At the micro-level, public opinion is brought into news stories in a variety of ways, including: statements about public opinion, depictions of compliance with or violation of social norms and laws, and portrayals of bystanders as symbols for public reaction. At the macro-level, coverage may have an underlying conception of public opinion as (1) aggregated individual opinion, (2) attempts of various groups to affect public policy and (3) a mechanism of social control. This case study of mainstream and alternative media coverage of three anarchist protests reveals differences at both the micro-descriptive and macro-conceptual levels.

Preschool Children's Conceptions of Sex-Role Transgressions

SMETANA, JUDITH G. Preschool Children's Conceptions of Sex-Role Transgressions. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1986, 57, 862-871. The purpose of this research was to examine the conceptual basis of preschoolers' judgments regarding cross-gender behavior, taking into consideration the type of sexrole regularity and whether it is male or female sex-role stereotyped. 48 preschool children, 24 boys and 24 girls, reasoned and made judgments about counterstereotypical sex-role behaviors and appearances in comparison to judgments regarding moral and conventional transgressions. Sex-role transgressions were judged to be more flexible, permissible, and subject to subordinate jurisdiction than moral or conventional transgressions. Children were more strongly committed to the maintenance of male than female sex-role expectations and to female sex-typed appearances than activities. Boys also considered male cross-gender appearances more serious than male cross-gender activities. Children reasoned about sex-role violations as personal or conventional issues; male sex-role deviations were more likely to be seen as violations of social norms than were female sex-role deviations. Personal reasoning about sex roles was significantly correlated with greater flexibility and less commitment to sex-role expectations. Thus, young children were flexible but committed to sex-role expectations, and sex-role concepts were multifaceted, entailing different types of social concepts.

The Current Status of Classification, Assessment, Programming, and Service Delivery Issues Relating to Children with Externalizing Behavior Disorders in the School Setting

Children who are classified as either emotionally disturbed or behavior disordered appear to stress school systems perhaps more intensely than any other handicapping condition. The behavioral characteristics of this population of students are extremely aversive to peers and adult social agents (teachers, parents) who must interact with them on a daily basis. Frequently, these children disrupt the instructional process for themselves and others, defy the teacher, and engage in forms of social behavior that are considered either inappropriate to the school setting (tantrumming, disturbing others, fighting) or are severe violations of social norms (stealing, self abuse).

Racial Differences in Protest Participation

Understanding of the phenomenon of political protest has been inhibited by the view that protest is fundamentally extraordinary or unconventional in character and that those who use it do so because they lack the resources to employ more conventional means of political expression. This article challenges this unqualified view by examining survey data based on black and white samples from the city of Milwaukee which relate to racial attitudes toward protest, the social characteristics of protest participants, and to the uses and organization of protest in the two racial communities. The analysis reveals widespread support for protest in the black community in contrast to the general antipathy found among whites. Both black and white protesters are found to be socioeconomically better-off than nonprotesters in their respective racial communities, but a variety of indicators suggest that black protesters are more integrated and typical members of their community than white protesters are of theirs. Data on the uses and organization of protest show that it has become an institutionalized feature of the black pursuit of urban politics in Milwaukee in contrast to its generally ad hoc and less frequent role for whites.We may conclude from all this that protest represents a widely accepted, integral part of black politics in the city, while for whites protest is indeed unconventional, a violation of dominant social norms. This conclusion is used as a basis for speculating on the relationship of protest participation to the possession of social resources and on the capacity of social resources to offset the costs incurred in the form of social disapproval for violating white norms against protest behavior.

Racial Differences in Protest Participation

Understanding of the phenomenon of political protest has been inhibited by the view that protest is fundamentally extraordinary or unconventional in character and that those who use it do so because they lack the resources to employ more conventional means of political expression. This article challenges this unqualified view by examining survey data based on black and white samples from the city of Milwaukee which relate to racial attitudes toward protest, the social characteristics of protest participants, and to the uses and organization of protest in the two racial communities. The analysis reveals widespread support for protest in the black community in contrast to the general antipathy found among whites. Both black and white protesters are found to be socioeconomically better-off than nonprotesters in their respective racial communities, but a variety of indicators suggest that black protesters are more integrated and typical members of their community than white protesters are of theirs. Data on the uses and organization of protest show that it has become an institutionalized feature of the black pursuit of urban politics in Milwaukee in contrast to its generally ad hoc and less frequent role for whites.We may conclude from all this that protest represents a widely accepted, integral part of black politics in the city, while for whites protest is indeed unconventional, a violation of dominant social norms. This conclusion is used as a basis for speculating on the relationship of protest participation to the possession of social resources and on the capacity of social resources to offset the costs incurred in the form of social disapproval for violating white norms against protest behavior.