Why Do Partisan Media Polarize Viewers?

The recent increase in partisan media has generated interest in whether such outlets polarize viewers. I draw on theories of motivated reasoning to explain why partisan media polarize viewers, why these programs affect some viewers much more strongly than others, and how long these effects endure. Using a series of original experiments, I find strong support for my theoretical expectations, including the argument that these effects can still be detected several days postexposure. My results demonstrate that partisan media polarize the electorate by taking relatively extreme citizens and making them even more extreme. Though only a narrow segment of the public watches partisan media programs, partisan media's effects extend much more broadly throughout the political arena.     

The hidden origins of enorm lesion

Plato's Penal Code: Tradition, Controversy and Reform in Greek Penology. Trevor J. Saunders. Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1991. xvii + 414pp. (incl. Indexes). £50 hb. ISBN 0 19 814893 3.

Roman Marriage: Iusti Coniuges from the time of Cicero to the time of Ulpian. Susan Treggiari. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 1991. xv + 578pp. (incl. Indexes). £65 hb. ISBN 0 19 814890 9.

Marriage, Divorce and Children in Ancient Rome. Edited by Beryl Rawson. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1991. xiv + 252pp. (incl. Index). £35 hb. ISBN 0 19 814918 2.

Law, Sex, and Christian Society in Medieval Europe. J.A. Brundage. University of Chicago Press, 1987. xxiv + 674pp. (incl. Index). £21.50 pb. ISBN 0 226 07784 5.

Church Courts, Sex and Marriage, in England, 1570–1640. M. Ingram. Past and Present Publications, Cambridge University Press, 1987. xiii + 412pp. (incl. Index). £45 hb. ISBN 0 521 386551.

The Medieval Canon Law. Teaching, Literature and Transmission. (The Sandars Lectures in Bibliography: 1987–1988). Dorothy M. Owen. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990. xii + 82pp. £25 hb. ISBN 0 521 39313 9.

Notaries Public in England since the Reformation. C.W. Brooks, R.H. Helmholz and P.G. Stein. Norwich: The Erskine Press for the Society of Public Notaries of London, 1991. ix + 148pp. (incl. Index). £60.00 hb. £29.95 pb. ISBN 1 85297 0340.

The Common Law and English Jurisprudence 1760–1850. Michael Lobban. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1991. xvi + 315pp. (incl. Index). £35.00 hb. ISBN 019 825293 5.

Prosecution and Punishment: Petty Crime and the Law in London and Rural Middlesex, c. 1660–1725. Robert B. Shoemaker. Cambridge: The University Press, 1991. xxviii + 352pp. (incl. Index). £40/$64.50 hb. ISBN 0 521 40082 1.

The London Hanged: Crime and Civil Society in the Eighteenth Century, Peter Linebaugh. London: Allen Lane, The Penguin Press, 1991. xxvii + 484pp. (incl. Index). £25 hb. ISBN 0 713 99045 7.

American Jurisprudence 1870–1970: A History. James Herget. Houston, Texas: Rice University Press, 1990. x + 367pp. (incl. Index.) $35.00hb. ISBN 0 89256 305 0.

Deutsche Juristen aus fünf Jarhunderten. G. Kleinheyer and J. Schröder. Heidelberg: C.F. Muller, 1989. 415pp. (incl. Index.) DM 34.80 pb.

Quellen zur Reform des Straf‐ und Strafprozessrechts, III Abteilung, NS‐Zeit (1933–1939), Band 1. Edited by J. Regge and W. Schubert et al. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 1991. xxi + 648 pp. (incl. Index.) DM 498.

Quellen zur Reform des Straf‐ und Strafprozessrechts, III Abteilung, NS‐Zeit (1933–1939), Band 2, 1 Teil. Edited by J. Regge and W. Schubert et al. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 1991. xxxi + 772 pp. (incl. Index.) DM 598.     

Outsourcing in US cities, ambulances and elderly voters

This paper develops a public choice model of city service provision, and uses empirical analysis to pin down some of the model’s key assumptions. Many of the largest cities in the United States outsource emergency medical services, and analysis of data from the 200 largest US cities finds that a number of variables are significant determinants of emergency ambulance outsourcing, including the fraction of a city’s voters over the age of 65. This finding provides evidence that elderly voters are important in policy determination, and suggests a particular shape for the model’s contracting cost curve.     

Radicalization of Homegrown Sunni Militants in the United States: Comparing Converts and Non-Converts

Are the mechanisms and processes that lead to radicalization different for Muslim converts and non-converts in the United States? While many scholars attempt to explain why people violently radicalize, the theories are diverse and most treat converts and non-converts the same. This study answers this question by categorizing the many radicalization theories into three levels of analysis so that cases of radicalization can be analyzed across and within disciplines. Out of 83 cases studies, individual-level factors are more prevalent among converts than non-converts. Group-level processes similarly affect both groups. Mass-level mechanisms are not significant factors in radicalization.