Sociopolitical Attitudes Research Articles

Sick Returnees among China’s Sent-Down Youth and Contemporary Chinese Practices of Identity Performance

China’s first cohort of the sent-down youth during the Cultural Revolution has since its early years attracted considerable research interest and been analysed from a few different viewpoints. However, the gradual retreat from executing the sent-down policy, especially bingtui (return to urban centres of origin because of medical reasons) as the then widely used tactic, and its long-term impact on people’s socio-political attitudes and behaviours have not been examined and evaluated adequately. This has resulted in a large discrepancy between the non-academic discourse of returning sent-down youth, including bingtui, and the academic literature on these aspects in both Chinese and English. As revealed by many non-academic publications, bingtui not only represented the emergence of a widespread popular resistance to the Maoist Cultural Revolution that involved mobilising those who were then sent to the countryside, but was also believed to be responsible for a surge in what has since become known as songli feng (a wave of gift-giving practice). Based on the information recorded in published personal memories of many sent-down youth and other published accounts, online and print, as well as the information collected from my own past observations and recent interviews, this article will go beyond both glowing and condemnatory documentations of the sent-down movement of the late 1960s and 1970s and seek to analyse how bingtui was started, how it was utilised by sent-down youth and their families and, importantly, how it had led more Chinese people to realise that certain aspects of their identity could be performed.

Gendered fitness interests: A method partitioning the effects of family composition on socio-political attitudes and behaviors

Whereas most people are biologically either male or female, their genetic interests are almost never aligned with just their own sex. Drawing on the evolutionary theory of inclusive fitness gained through relatives, we partition the effects of kin on fitness into those that derive from female versus male relatives. We argue that the balance of these female- and male-derived effects, which we call ‘Gendered Fitness Interests’ (GFI), might influence human behavior, especially the adoption of socio-political attitudes that have a gendered dimension. Our proposal builds on observations that an individual's socio-political views covary with the sex of their children or the numbers of relatives of each sex. Further, it is consistent with the relatively small average differences between women's and men's socio-political positions. We outline a method for partitioning GFI, and use simulation models to explore some of its properties. We then show that (1) the GFI component of women's and men's socio-political attitudes will converge, on average, with age. (2) The contributions of both descendent and non-descendent kin lead to considerable variation in GFI. (3) When men have longer average reproductive lifespans than women, GFI can show small male-biases. (4) Paternity uncertainty reduces the variation in GFI between individuals, and (5) Large family sizes are associated with more variation among individuals in GFI. Our proposal provides a framework for the study of the effects of kin on traits and attitudes with a gendered dimension. In this respect, it may prove generally useful in resolving the complex origins of gendered behavior.

Formation of College Plans: Expected Returns, Preferences and Adjustment Process

We exploit a large exogenous shock to study the determinants of college attendance and the role played by one's environment. We analyze whether, and how quickly, adolescents' college plans are adapted, explore factors leading to the adjustment, and examine how these factors ultimately impact later educational attainment. Using differences across East German cohorts induced by the timing of the German Reunification (a change for the East from state socialism to capitalist democracy), we show that shortly after relative to before that time, college plans among high-school students increased substantially, which was followed by sizable increases in the completion of the college entrance certificate five years later. Our analysis sheds light on the elasticity of beliefs and preferences of different cohorts of youths in the case of a large shock. Perceived educational returns, economic preferences (consumerism) and sociopolitical attitudes (individualism) adapt quickly in response to the shock and are directly linked to changes in plans and outcomes. Cohorts closer to critical educational junctions at the time of Reunification, however, adjusted their plans to a much lesser extent. While they similarly updated the expected returns to education, they exhibited a slower adjustment in their preferences relative to younger cohorts.

“What’s Past is Prologue”: An Historical Overview of Judicial Review in South Africa – Part 1

This contribution explores the historical origins and development of judicial review in South Africa as a function and as an indication of shifts in relations between – and of the relative legal and political powers of – the three branches of state. It also provides bibliographical details of sources chronicling these historical processes. The contribution is published into two parts. This first part focuses primarily on the historical development of constitutional review, namely the power of the courts of law to test the validity of legislation against constitutional criteria. The scope of this power depends not only on the relevant constitutional provisions, but also on the actual and perceived independence of the judiciary, as well as on judicial dispositions and socio-political attitudes toward the courts. This part of the contribution further considers the origins of judicial review of the proceedings of inferior courts and of voluntary associations. The second part of the article will analyse the historical development of administrative law, with the emphasis on the common-law evolution of judicial review of the administrative decision-making processes of organs of state. In addition, it will investigate the growth of administrative law as a discrete discipline in South African law schools. Finally, it will look at the role of the interpretation of statutes in the context of administrative law.

Gender Differences in Social and Political Attitudes: It’s Protection versus Freedom, not Liberalism versus Conservatism

This study examines sex differences in socio-political attitudes in the United States using the General Social Survey (GSS). It solves the seeming paradox that women have been described as both more religious and more liberal than men. The results indicate that women are indeed more religious than men and more socially conservative in many respects as indicated by earlier research in the United States and elsewhere. However, they are also more “economically liberal” in the US sense of favoring more social expenditures by the government. The observed differences do not fit the present political alignments of the United States. They rather indicate that women more than men are concerned about protecting people from economic hardship, from threats emerging from “non-standard” beliefs and worldviews, and from the darker side of their own nature. The sex differences can be described as lying on a protection versus freedom dimension, similar to what has been described for political alignments in many non-Western countries. At the level of specific issues, most sex differences have remained quite stable from the 1970s to the 2010s.

Экологический ракурс пандемии COVID-19: новый шанс для “зеленой” экономики

The article investigates the changes in environment that occurred in response to economic processes during the COVID‑19 pandemic (2019–2021), and related transformation of socio-political attitudes towards Green Policy and Green Economy. From the environmentalistic point of view, the pandemic played a twofold role. On the one part, it allowed the nature to “take a break” from an excessive anthropogenic pressure on the atmosphere and hydrosphere, and once again mobilized the humanity to reconsider the principles of interaction with the environment. On the other part, different types of pollution (daily and medical waste, plastic) increased dramatically; funding of international and national environmental programs was cut due to the economic recession worldwide. Nevertheless, the multidimensional crisis caused by the pandemic gave a new chance to the Green Economy. The most influential states of the world (the EU countries, USA, China and Russia) actively implement the Green Economy instruments at the state level. This process incorporates all economy sectors: finances, energy, industry, transport, agriculture and other. The European Union which had taken this path before the pandemic started is in an advanced position. At the same time, the foundations of the future environment-oriented economic policy are already enshrined in official documents (strategies, action plans, legislative acts, etc.) adopted by the leading nations thus far. Noteworthy is that the COVID‑19 crisis has updated the green political and economic agenda globally, regardless of differences between the states, which verifies the importance and necessity of agreeing a conceptually new approach to interaction with the environment in the short and long term.

Influence of innovative economy on socio-political attitudes of Russian students

Influence of innovative economy on socio-political attitudes of Russian students

Male descendant kin promote conservative views on gender issues and conformity to traditional norms.

Political and social attitudes have been shown to differ by sex in a way that tracks individual self-interest. We propose that these attitudes also change strategically to serve the best interests of either male or female kin. To test this hypothesis, we developed a measure of gendered fitness interests (GFI) - an index which reflects the sex, relatedness and residual reproductive value of close kin. We predicted that people with male-biased GFI (i.e. people with more male kin of a reproductive age) would have more conservative attitudes towards gender-related issues (e.g. gender roles, women's rights, abortion rights). An online study using an American sample (N = 560) found support for this hypothesis. Further analyses revealed that this relationship was driven not only by people's own sex and reproductive value but also by those of their descendant kin. Exploratory analyses also found a positive association between male-biased GFI and a measure of conformity, as well as a smaller association between male-biased GFI and having voted Republican in the last election. Both of these associations were statistically mediated by gender-related conservatism. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that GFI influences sociopolitical attitudes.

New Zealand’s Waitangi Day divided? Support for national Day predicts in-group and out-group warmth for Pākehā but only in-group warmth for Māori

Waitangi Day, New Zealand’s official national day, is often claimed as contentious by commentators and academics. However, research analysing the wider population’s opinions about Waitangi Day are lacking. We address this with two studies using national probability data from the New Zealand Attitudes and Values Study. Most participants supported (51%), rather than opposed (8%), Waitangi Day as a national celebration of biculturalism. Study one indicated that, on average, Pākehā (N = 12390) who opposed Waitangi Day as a bicultural celebration expressed warmer attitudes towards Pākehā but colder attitudes towards Māori. Conversely, support for Waitangi Day as a bicultural celebration among Māori (N = 1928) was, on average, related to warmth towards Māori but uncorrelated with warmth towards Pākehā. Study two assessed whether socio-political attitudes changed in the weeks leading up to, during, and immediately following Waitangi Day in 2015. Contrary to narratives of divisiveness, we failed to detect reliable change in the attitudes of Māori (N = 556) and Pākehā (N = 3203) around Waitangi Day. These findings are inconsistent with anecdotal claims that Waitangi Day may be divisive.

Methodology for the Study of Socio-Political Attitudes of International Students

The article presents the rationale for the classification of international students based on civilizational criteria. The authors identified and characterized eight cultural profiles: two post-Soviet profiles, European, Latin American, African, Arabic, Chinese, and southern.The authors propose to use sociological scales to identify and measure the socio-political attitudes of international students. The authors proposed their options for the following scales: the social distance of E. Bogardus, equal intervals of L. Thurstone, total ratings of R. Likert, the scale of L. Guttman. We also proposed the author’s interpretation of the method of semantic differential of C. Osgood. Each scale allows you to identify and measure attitudes towards Russia. Finally, the authors proposed an integral index of socio-political attitudes. The integral index consists of an average of five of the above indices. The integrated index allows you to minimize research errors and compare the attitudes of students from different cultural profiles.

Long live the past: A multiple correspondence analysis of people’s justifications for drawing historical analogies between the Paris attacks and past events

Comparing present and past situations by means of historical analogy is prevalent in political and public discourses. But when researching this phenomenon, scientists often use reception paradigms, where they ask people which past event is most applicable to a current situation or issue. In these paradigms, analogies are treated as unequivocal—rather than flexible—in their meanings. In this paper, we use a production paradigm to examine why European citizens (in France, Belgium, and Germany) selected historical analogies and justified their meanings following the two 2015 terrorist attacks in France. We find that most participants tend to mention a relatively small number of past events, characterized by similarities in time (recent), space (geographically close) and type (terrorist attacks) with the current attacks. However, a multiple correspondence analysis indicates that, even when they overwhelmingly agree about the relevance of a particular event (the attacks of September 11th 2001) for the present situation, participants confer widely varying—even conflicting—meanings to the “same” analogy, which align with different socio-political attitudes. We suggest that these variations do not just represent the emphasis that different participants place on particular sets of similarities between the past and the present attacks: They also embody specific, and conflicting, stances on salient and controversial issues surrounding the topic of contemporary terrorism (e.g., why were ‘we’ attacked, who deserves to be grieved, how should the government respond). Results are discussed in light of the literature on social representations of both history and terrorism.

Религиозность и гражданская идентификация молодежи в Республике Дагестан: современное состояние.

The article is devoted to determining the level of religiosity of Dagestan youth and its influence on the process of forming civil identity. Based on the results of a sociological study, the author states that there is a direct relationship between the level of youth religiosity and their civic identification. He states that the high level of religious identity of young people does not weaken the position of civic identification. At the same time, pronounced religious ties contribute to the formation of a culture of trust in persons of other confessional and ethnic groups at the level of interpersonal relations. The experience of close connection with co-religionists develops a culture of trust in a multi-ethnic and multi-confessional environment. Nevertheless, the author draws attention to the difference in indicators of civil identification in the Islamic-Christian border area, which is associated with the predominance in the mass consciousness of muslims and representatives of non-Russian nationality of the feeling of violation of civil rights on a confessional basis. It is concluded that with the adoption of the practice of meeting religious requests of communities throughout the Russian Federation, regardless of religious affiliation, it is expected to increase the indicators of civil identification of young people. The article notes that the regional level is dominated by trends for favorable interfaith communication. To a decisive extent, they may depend on the socio-political attitudes at the federal level.

Does the Quality of Mating Competitors Affect Socio-Political Attitudes? An Experimental Test

Individual differences in socio-political attitudes can reflect mating interests, and attitudes can also shift in response to mating market cues, including mating competitor quality. In four experiments, we tested whether competitors’ attractiveness (Experiments 1F&1M) and income (Experiments 2F&2M) would influence socio-political attitudes (participants’ self-reported attitudes towards promiscuity and sexual liberalism, traditional gender roles, and the minimum wage and healthcare). We collected data from American participants online through Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (total N = 787). In all experiments, each participant was randomly assigned to one of four experimental treatments in a between-subjects design (three levels of mating competitor quality and a control group), and to one of five stimuli within each treatment. Overall, the experimental treatments largely did not predict participants’ socio-political attitudes. The fifteen unique experimental stimuli, however, did significantly affect participants’ perception of their competitors’ quality. That perception, in turn, affected some socio-political attitudes. Namely, individuals who perceived their competitors to be of high mate-value were more supportive of traditional gender roles and, only for men in Experiment 2M, more opposed to promiscuity and sexual liberalism than individuals who perceived competitors to be of low mate-value. These results only applied to sexually unrestricted, but not restricted, women. Perceived mating competition did not affect attitudes towards the minimum wage and healthcare. Experimental cues of mating competition shifted participants’ perceptions of their competitors’ mating quality and these perceptions in turn shifted some socio-political attitudes. We interpret these results considering broader arguments about plasticity in socio-political attitudes.

Challenges and prospects for implementation of community health volunteers\u2019 digital health solutions in Kenya: a qualitative study

BackgroundThe value of digital health technologies in delivering vital health care interventions, especially in low resource settings is increasingly appreciated. We co-developed and tested a decision support mobile health (m-Health) application (app);with some of the forms used by Community Health Volunteers (CHVs) in Kenya to collect data and connected to health facilities. This paper explores the experiences of CHVs, health workers and members of Sub-County Health Management Teams following implementation of the project.MethodsData were collected in December 2017 through in-depth interviews and focus group discussions with CHVs and key informant interviews with health care workers and health managers in Kamukunji sub-County of Nairobi, Kenya. Data coding and analysis was performed in NVivo 12.ResultsRegarding users and health managers’ perceptions towards the system; three main themes were identified: 1) variations in use, 2) barriers to use and 3) recommendations to improve use. Health workers at the private facility and some CHVs used the system more than health workers at the public facilities. Four sub-themes under barriers to use were socio-political environment, attitudes and behaviour, issues related to the system and poor infrastructure. A prolonged health workers’ strike, the contentious presidential election in the year of implementation, interrupted electricity supply and lack of basic electric fixtures were major barriers to use. Suggestions to improve usage were: 1) integration of the system with others in use and making it available on users’ regular phones, and 2) explore sustainable motivation models to users as well as performance based remuneration.ConclusionsThe findings reveal the importance of considering the readiness of information and communication technologies (ICT) users before rollout of ICT solutions. The political and sociocultural environment in which the innovation is to be implemented and integration of new solutions into existing ones is critical for success. As more healthcare delivery models are developed, harnessing the potential of digital technologies, strengthening health systems is critical as this provides the backbone on which such innovations draw support.

Social and Political Attitudes of Moscow Students on the Background of the All-Russia and Regional Youth Studies

The purpose of the article is to study the socio-political attitudes of Moscow students, which determine their life strategies in the public sphere. An empirical basis for the study was the sociological survey of students of three universities in Moscow (n = 768). The questionnaire was partially based on Milton Rokeach’s terminal personal values indicators and the methodology of studying political culture of Gabriel Almond and Sidney Verba, adapted to a Russian context. The survey data operationalization let us represent a structural model of socio-political attitudes of Moscow students, which consists of indicators of four levels: value, emotional, cognitive, and strategic. The results showed that students in Moscow share the values and patriotic feelings of the elder generations. The influence of gender and age factors was most pronounced on the level of personal values. Despite of the field of their study, students in Moscow can be described as quite energetic and optimistic young citizens, equally family and career oriented with not a high interest in politics and weak political activity. Authors discussed their main findings with the results of previously obtained all-Russian and regional youth studies.

Do Political Attitudes Matter for Epistemic Decisions of Scientists?

The epistemic attitudes of scientists, such as epistemic tolerance and authoritarianism, play important roles in the discourse about rivaling theories. Epistemic tolerance stands for the mental attitude of an epistemic agent, e.g., a scientist, who is open to opposing views, while epistemic authoritarianism represents the tendency to uncritically accept views of authorities. Another relevant epistemic factor when it comes to the epistemic decisions of scientists is the skepticism towards the scientific method. However, the question is whether these epistemic attitudes are influenced by their sociopolitical counterparts, such as the researcher’s degree of conservatism. To empirically investigate the interplay between epistemic and sociopolitical attitudes of scientists, we conducted a survey with researchers (N = 655) across different disciplines. We propose scales for measuring epistemic tolerance and epistemic authoritarianism, as well as a scale for detecting the participants' readiness to question the scientific method. Furthermore, we investigate the relationship between epistemic tolerance and epistemic authoritarianism on the one hand, and career stage and sociopolitical views on the other hand. Interestingly, our study found only small correlations between the participants' degree of conservatism and their epistemic attitudes. This suggests that political views, against common argumentation, actually do not play an important role in one’s scientific decisions. Moreover, social scientists scored higher on the epistemic tolerance and lower on the epistemic authoritarianism scale than natural scientists. Finally, the results indicate that natural scientists question the scientific method less than social scientists.

Wind of Change? Experimental Survey Evidence on the Covid-19 Shock and Socio-Political Attitudes in Europe

This paper investigates whether the COVID-19 crisis has affected the way we vote and think about politics, as well as our broader attitudes and underlying value systems. We fielded large online survey experiments in Italy, Spain, Germany and the Netherlands, well into the first wave of the epidemic (May-June), and included outcome questions on trust, voting intentions, policies & taxation, and identity & values. With a randomised survey flow we vary whether respondents are given COVID-19 priming questions first, before answering the outcome questions. With this treatment design we can also disentangle the health and economic effects of the crisis, as well as a potential “rally around the flag” component. We find that the crisis has brought about severe drops in interpersonal and institutional trust, as well as lower support for the EU and social welfare spending financed by taxes. This is largely due to economic anxiety rather than health concerns. A rallying effect around (scientific) expertise combined with populist policies losing ground forms the other side of this coin, and hints at a rising demand for competent leadership.

Symbolic politics and self-interest in post-Affordable Care Act health Insurance coverage

Social scientists have long shown that self-interest rarely has a large effect on citizens’ sociopolitical attitudes. Instead, Americans’ opinions about public policy are driven more by symbolic predispositions. Yet those opinions about policy may just be cheap talk. When Americans are faced with costly behaviors that pit their interests against their values, perhaps self-interest will play a larger role. Post-Affordable Care Act (ACA) health insurance coverage provides an important test for self-interest and symbolic politics. Faced with costly decisions to pay fines or purchase insurance, did Americans put symbolic politics over material self-interests? Using a monthly tracking poll, we first show that symbolic attitudes overwhelm self-interest in shaping public opinion about health policy. Marshaling data from over one million respondents from Gallup’s Tracking Poll, however, we show that both self-interest and symbolic predispositions are associated with decisions to purchase health insurance under the ACA.

Risk Overgeneralization in Times of a Contagious Disease Threat.

People’s assessment of risks is swayed by their current feelings. COVID-19 invokes powerful feelings because it is (i) a salient, enormous threat, (ii) unfamiliar, and (iii) intertwined with xenophobia. These three factors are known to exert predictable influence on people’s risk overgeneralization, policy preference, and sociopolitical attitudes. We provide a succinct, illustrative review of empirical work on these dynamics in times of a disease outbreak (e.g., the 2009 H1N1 swine flu, the 2014 Ebola). Theoretical and applied implications for the present COVID-19 pandemic include the value of salience in motivating public opinion change, the importance of reducing unfamiliarity for curbing risk-averse tendencies, and the need for policies that guard against xenophobia-driven racism in collaborative efforts.

Authoritarianism and the transgenerational transmission of corporal punishment

BackgroundAuthoritarianism, firstly described by Horkheimer in 1936, is characterized by submission to authorities, aggression against subordinates and conventionalism. Authoritarianism is discussed as major contributor for right-wing attitudes. Horkheimer hypothesized that authoritarianism has its origin in the experience of harsh parenting and exposure to corporal punishment (CP) by authoritarian parents. The other way around, literature points towards an association between conventionalism and support of CP as disciplinary method, suggesting a role of authoritarianism in the vicious cycle of transgenerational transmission of CP. ObjectiveWe aimed to assess the association of authoritarianism, right-wing attitudes and affirmation of CP, focusing particularly the role of authoritarianism and right-wing attitudes in the transgenerational transmission of CP.Participants and Setting: In a cross-sectional survey, a representative sample of the German population above the age of 14 (N = 2524) was selected in a random route approach. ResultsAuthoritarian aggression, authoritarian submission and conventionalism (OR 1.40) such as right-wing self-assessment (OR 1.39) are associated with an increased support of different forms of CP. Moderation analyses reveal an increasing affirmation of CP by those with a history of CP holding authoritarian attitudes and right-wing positions. ConclusionsOur results suggest a significant role for sociopolitical attitudes in the affirmation of CP and its transgenerational transmission. Sociopolitical ideology may be an important factor to identify risk groups, but furthermore represents a promising target for preventive interventions that aim to stop the cycle of violence in families, and, subsequently, the dire consequences of CP.