Study Of Social Attitudes Research Articles

Documentary Cinema in Contemporary Screen Discourse

The purpose of the article research is to analyze a contemporary documentary film in the domestic market from the point of view of the functioning of cinema discourse. Research methodology of the study was to use the following methods: historiography was used to review the history of a domestic documentary film; theoretical and methodological analysis was consisted of examining the situation related to broadcasting documentary cinema cycles on television; monitoring to explore the range of contemporary documentary topics; a sociological survey to outline the viewer’s current opinion about the contemporary documentary. The scientific novelty is that for the first time in the scientific literature systematization of modern TV channels, which today show Ukrainian documentary films and TV projects, has been carried out. Conclusions. As of today, the role of documentary in cinema is at the forefront and is increasing every day. This is due to the formation of the Ukrainian market of documentary cinema, and the growing ability of contemporaries to create realistic paintings that truly reflect our history. Further studies of the outlined issues should be based on the aspects of hybridization of the genre of the documentary project and a deeper study of social attitudes towards contemporary Ukrainian cinema.

Negotiating the hierarchy: Social dominance orientation among women is associated with the endorsement of benevolent sexism

ObjectiveWe examine how women high in social dominance orientation reconcile supporting a social system that seemingly disadvantages them. We propose that women high in social dominance orientation are more likely to adopt a benevolently sexist worldview.MethodThis paper contains data from two survey studies. Study 1 used data from the New Zealand Attitudes and Values Survey (N = 10,485) which is a study of social attitudes, personality, and health outcomes among New Zealanders. Measures of Social Dominance Orientation, as well as Hostile and Benevolent Sexism were included in Study 1. Study 2 consisted of data from a smaller sample of American females (N = 269). In addition to the variables described above, we also measured the extent to which participants perceived the gender hierarchy to be legitimate and their perceived personal need for protection from men. Control variables included hostile sexism and demographic variables (participants’ age, race, and socioeconomic status).ResultsResults revealed that social dominance orientation was a stronger predictor of benevolent sexism among women compared to men. Serial mediation analysis was then conducted in Study 2. Study 2 confirmed the hypothesised mechanism: Higher social dominance orientation was associated with perceptions that women's low status is legitimate which, in turn, was associated with higher perceived personal need for protection from men. This was then associated with the endorsement of a benevolently sexist worldview.ConclusionOur findings suggest that social dominance orientation might help to explain why some women endorse benevolent sexism.

How ‘Critically Open-Minded’ Are We? An Australian Perspective Through the World Values Survey

This article introduces ‘critical open-mindedness’ as a new sociological construct, which can be employed particularly in the studies of social attitudes and attitude change, social values, social identities, cross-cultural relations and social discrimination. By drawing on the data collected through the 2005 World Values Survey in Australia, we have operationalized the construct into an integrative social index, called ‘critical open-mindedness index’ consisting of five dimensional composite indicators (CIs; i.e. the social, political, cultural, economic, and environmental). We have adopted an integrative approach to constructing these composite indicators in which we pragmatically select and incorporate a variety of techniques with the purpose of maximizing the validity of the end results. The findings with respect to Australians’ critical open-mindedness, both in general and in reference to its five dimensions are discussed. We have also developed and examined a social psychological index of ‘socio-cognitive open-mindedness’ inspired by a number of commonly used international scales and by drawing on the same dataset. We have shown that these two types of open-mindedness are qualitatively different. Our analysis does not support the idea that individuals’ social psychological open-mindedness determines their critical open-mindedness. It is rather the opposite which is the case.

Effect of Contact with Patients on Attitudes of Student Nurses Towards the Mentally Ill

Introduction: Studies of social attitudes towards the mentally ill revealed their down-casting as untrustworthy, ineffective and even dangerous. It is hypothesized that contact with patients is associated with an increase in favourable attitudes towards the mentally ill. Method: An attitude test was administered to student nurses before and after their psychiatric nurse training rotation. Results: A significant increase in favourable attitudes was found at the expense of a reduction in undecided and unfavourable attitudes. Discussion: The social down-casting of the mentally was reflected in student nurse’s initial attitudes towards the mentally ill as dangerous and unreliable or at least unproductive human beings. Conclusion: Contact with patients during training elicited empathy of trainee nurses and this was reflected in more favourable attitudes towards the mentally ill and the correction of unfavourable or undecided attitude of awe, untrustworthiness, unpredictability and even dangerousness derived from the culture from which the student nurses come.

Major psychological dimensions of cross-cultural differences: Nastiness, Social Awareness/Morality, Religiosity and broad Conservatism/Liberalism

This paper presents the findings from a study based on 8883 participants from 33 countries. The Big Six measures of personality, and factor scores from studies of social attitudes, social axioms and social norms were analyzed in order to arrive at the main dimensions of cross-cultural differences. In the outcome, three factors captured the major proportion of variance at the pancultural level of analysis: Nastiness/Social Dominance, Social Awareness/Morality and Religiosity. At the between-countries' level, a broad Conservatism/Liberalism factor was identified. The largest cross-cultural differences were found on the Religiosity dimension. Cross-cultural differences on Social Awareness/Morality were negligible, and Nastiness/Social Dominance were in the middle. Overall, South Asian, South East Asian and African regions scored high on Religiosity and Nastiness/Social Dominance dimensions while Western and Eastern Europe and Anglo regions scored low. Three regions - Latin America, Middle East/North Africa and East Asia - were in the middle.

The Triumph of ‘Normality’, Social Attitudes, Popular Opinion and the Construction of the Franco Regime in Post-War Rural Spain (1936–1952)

As with other non-democratic regimes, the study of social attitudes has become one of the main themes used to explain the birth, consolidation and durability of the Franco dictatorship. The aim of this article is to demonstrate how the outlook adopted by ordinary Spaniards favoured the consolidation of the Franco regime during the post-war period. It does this by highlighting the importance of examining popular opinion at the local level, where state agents and members of society came into daily contact. By analysing social attitudes towards hunger and poverty, guerrilla activities and Spain’s diplomatic isolation, the article reveals a measure of tepid support for the regime. Together with the punishment of the defeated and the collaboration of regime supporters, the unenthusiastic but accepting opinions held by the majority of Spanish people were crucial to underpinning the regime ‘from below’. To these groups, the survival of dictatorship seemed to be the only solution that would avoid political confrontation and would allow people to live a ‘peaceful’ existence.

Towards a Sociology of Attitudes

The psychology of attitudes has made important contributions to knowledge over many decades, but it has tended to cause confusion in the study of social attitudes. From a sociological perspective, attitudes should be defined as prescriptive or evaluative judgements, not as individual predispositions to act in particular ways or to view something favourably or unfavourably. The basic distinction that has been lost is that between personal preferences, tastes or feelings on the one hand and social attitudes on the other. Attitudes also need to be distinguished from beliefs and values. Contrary to the current consensus in psychology, if not actual practice in sociology, attitudes are more usefully regarded as observable characteristics than as latent constructs. This perspective is applied to survey questions related to attitudes and then both theoretically and empirically to the concepts of tolerance and trust, with the aim of illustrating what might emerge from a more sociological treatment of attitudes. The analysis involves cross-national comparisons using the 2008 European Values Study. Distaste for multiple kinds of out-groups seems to be a better predictor of not wanting a homosexual as a neighbour than disapproval of homosexuality, and similar results are found for other ‘others’. With trust, the evidence shows that not only individual but also national differences in the perceived fairness of others have substantial effects. To the extent that trust is rooted in a moral evaluation of people in general, it qualifies as an attitude itself rather than being just a belief about the attitudes of others.

Using automated semantic tagging in Critical Discourse Analysis: A case study on Scottish independence from a Scottish nationalist perspective

To date, studies of social attitudes towards Scottish independence tend to have been of the structured survey or interview variety. This study seeks to support and build upon the findings of recent social attitude surveys on Scottish independence using what is, as far as the author is aware, a novel methodology. This involves combining the corpus linguistic technique of automated semantic tagging with a discourse-historical Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) framework.Applying this to a three-million-word corpus built from a pro-independence internet discussion forum, the analysis shows, firstly, a view that independence will strengthen, consolidate or transform Scottish identity in a positive way and, secondly, a distinct lack of strategies that seek to dismantle British identity or refer to historical disputes. Thus, an evaluation of this methodology suggests that it successfully manages to produce findings that support previous research, challenge existing stereotypes, and allow new insight into Scottish nationalist ideology.

Identifying social attitudes to assist urban energy planning in Leicester

A study of social attitudes to urban energy management strategies has been undertaken as part of a research project aiming to develop an energy planning tool for urban planners. The study used a social survey to predict attitudinal responses to proposed engineering solutions, namely load management, energy efficiency and alternative supply options (renewable energy). The principal influence on attitude formation, which emerges from the literature and this study, appears to be socio-economic conditioning.The results indicate that Leicester citizens are open to alternative energy strategies, such as a willingness to pay additional amounts of money for electricity generated from renewable or sustainable sources and the purchase of low energy appliances. Over half the sample surveyed would pay up to 5% extra for an energy-efficient appliance, and a significant minority would pay extra for 'green' energy. In addition, 73% of respondents are sympathetic to Demand-side Management measures such as interruptible tariffs. The use of 'social group' analysis has proved to be a useful and sensitive tool for the market analysis of energy-related behaviour. In this study, a positive relationship between energy-related attitudes and income is revealed.

Women and Alcohol: Use and Abuse

National surveys of the quantity/frequency of drinking, conducted over the last half century, show that the percentage of nonabstaining women has remained at about 60%. Although male/female differences in drinking are smaller than they were a generation ago, this appears to relate primarily to drinking by young adults. Study of social attitudes toward male and female intoxication has consistently indicated more disapproval of female intoxication. Alcoholism in women has a complex etiology that includes biological factors, positive family history, difficulties in impulse control, depression, and drinking by significant others in the social environment. Male/female differences in patterns and consequences of alcoholic behavior are summarized, as are differences among alcoholic women with earlier or later onset.

Modernity in the Context of Education and Sociocultural Factors: A Study of Social Attitudes in Mizoram

Abstract The modernizing influence of education on select social attitudes of Mizos was subjected to study. Social attitudes toward religion, marriage, family, status of women in society, and education were measured by a Likert-type, 80-item, 5-point forcing scale. The Mizo version of the Modernity Attitude Scale (MAS) was administered to a sample of 400 adults with varying socioeconomic and educational backgrounds. Subgroups based on subjects' level of education showed statistically significant differences in attitude toward family and education and the overall MAS scores. The educational subgroups failed, however, to discriminate among attitudes toward religion, marriage, and status of women in society. Personal factors—self-education, parental education, occupation, and age (negative)—revealed considerable influence on individual modernity in attitudes. Mizo women were found to possess relatively higher levels of modernity than their male counterparts. Media exposure, urban orientation, and religious orientation (negative) returned as significant sociocultural factors making men modern.

Charles Barber. The Theme of Honour's Tongue: A Study of Social Attitudes in the English Drama from Shakespeare to Dryden. (Gothenburg Studies in English 58.) Goteborg, Sweden: Acta Universitatis Gothoburgensis; distributed by Humanities Press, Atlantic Highlands, N. J.. 1985. Pp. 171. $19.95. - Lauro Martines. Society and History in English Rensissance Verse. New York: Basil Blackwell Inc.1985. Pp. viii, 191.

Charles Barber. The Theme of Honour's Tongue: A Study of Social Attitudes in the English Drama from Shakespeare to Dryden. (Gothenburg Studies in English 58.) Goteborg, Sweden: Acta Universitatis Gothoburgensis; distributed by Humanities Press, Atlantic Highlands, N. J.. 1985. Pp. 171. 24.95. - Volume 18 Issue 4

Prescribers and rebels: Attitudes to european women's sexuality in New Zealand 18601916

Synopsis This paper explores the divergence between prescriptions about female sexuality and the realities of female behaviour. In particular the paper defines the manner in which those who spelt out the prescriptions defined and sought to control deviance. In every period and culture some groups try to prescribe norms of social behaviour and focus almost obsessively on women and their sexual role. These issues loomed large in New Zealand, a country of recent settlement whose social pundits were eager not to repeat in the new world the mistakes of the old one. The medical profession, politicians, and women reformers were most important in defining social mores. Physiology provided the ‘scientific≐ basis for separate sexual roles and the double-standard; politicians enacted controlling legislation, and groups of women attempted to reform their recalcitrant sisters. Institutions were set up and laws were passedMagdalen Institutes, the Contagious Diseases Actto ensure control and conformity. While the study of social attitudes informs us about the dominating ideologies, they should not be viewed in isolation from the actual behaviour of the women concerned. The extent of ex-nuptial births, abortion and prostitution, as expressed in statistics, supplemented by impressionistic evidence, shows a constant resistance on the part of a large number of women. The treatment of deviants unmarried mothers, prostitutes-indicates not only the degree of intolerance of pre-First World War New Zealand but also measures the gap between prescription and reality as well as the efficacy of social control.

A perspective on the study of social attitudes

AbstractArgues that the comparative neglect of the cognitive component and social origins of social attitudes has produced serious inadequacies in social psychology and limited its social relevance. Discusses critically the question of how far social change can be brought about by changing attitudes. The argument is exemplified with reference to the literature on authoritarianism and recent British research on racial prejudice and mass communication. Concludes that the psychology of social attitudes needs to take greater account of the way the production and communication of culture are related to social structure and change.

The breakdown of the American image: comparison of stereotypes held by college students over four decades.

The same list of 84 adjectives used by college students to assign traits to Americans in 1932 (Katz & Braly, 1933) and in 1950 (Gilbert, 1951) was used again in 1970. Striking differences in willingness to stereotype are noted, and the often-contradictory traits chosen by Ss generally changed in a “negative” direction from those of earlier studies. Findings support the general notion that today's youth view their country and its people very differently from Ss tested a few decades ago. This suggests not only the need for new approaches to educating students but also has methodological implications for research design in studies of social attitudes.

Naturalistic methods in the study of social attitudes.

Naturalistic methods in the study of social attitudes.

Religiosity and Social Attitudes in an Urban Congregation

Studies of social attitudes have frequently used church affiliation as an explanatory variable, but in such studies the categories used typically include persons from a great variety of local church settings. Furthermore, regular churchgoers have often been indiscriminately lumped together with once-a-year churchgoers, thus ignoring the intensity of church participation. Seldom have systematic studies of social attitudes been conducted within the framework of religious institutions.

Teacher trainees and authoritarian attitude

Abstract Recent studies of social attitudes suggest that an individual, in expressing prejudicial opinions and beliefs, is exposing aspects of a deep-lying, self-consistent mental economy. Ethnocentricism and politico-economic conservatism are seemingly influenced by an underlying authoritarian attitude, which implies implicit antidemocratic trends and what have been termed pre-Fascist leanings. Investigations of these so-called Fascist attitudes have been carried out by Katz and Cantril (13), Edwards (6), and Stagner (22) with college students comprising the samples in most of these studies.

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN "INTOLERANCE OF AMBIGUITY," GENERALIZATION AND SPEED OF PERCEPTUAL CLOSURE

The concept of of was introduced by FrenkelBrunswick as a unifying term for a number of response characteristics of prejudiced individuals. Some of the in a study of social attitudes (0o) were observed to be unable to accept ambivalent feelings toward their parents or other individuals. From a series of related experiments (io) it was concluded that . . . denial of emotional ambivalence and intolerance of cognitive ambiguity (are) but different aspects of what may be a fairly coherent characteristic. An underlying emotional conflict between glorification and hostility in the attitude toward parents, sex and one's social identity .. . is related . . . to a prevalence of premature reduction of ambiguous cognitive patterns to certainty in these subjects (Io, p. 140). A number of investigations (1, 5, I 1, 14, 6) of the response characteristics of ethnocentric as compared to nonethnocentric individuals lend some support to this notion.

A Preliminary Study of Social Attitudes

A Preliminary Study of Social Attitudes