Turnout as a Habit

It is conventional to speak of voting as “habitual.” But what does this mean? In psychology, habits are cognitive associations between repeated responses and stable features of the performance context. Thus, “turnout habit” is best measured by an index of repeated behavior and a consistent performance setting. Once habit associations form, the response can be cued even in the absence of supporting beliefs and motivations. Therefore, variables that form part of the standard cognitive-based accounts of turnout should be more weakly related to turnout among those with a strong habit. We draw evidence from a large array of ANES surveys to test these hypotheses and find strong support.     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">Society’s</Emphasis> Books of Note

Society’s Books of Note

Society’s Books of Note March/April 2011     

Gender Differences in the Educational Expectations of Urban,Low-Income African American Youth: The Role of Parents and the School

This study examined how youths’ gender is related to the educational expectations of urban, low-income African American youth, their parents, and their teachers. As predicted, African American boys (ages 9–16) reported lower expectations for future educational attainment than did their female counterparts. Parents and teachers also reported lower expectations for African American boys (ages 6–16) than for girls. These findings held even when controlling for academic achievement. Contrary to predictions, the magnitude of the difference in expectations for males vs. females did not increase as a function of youths’ age. In keeping with our hypotheses, parental expectations fully mediated the relation between youths’ gender and youths’ expectations. Finally, certain school-based factors (i.e., positive teacher expectations and positive youth perceptions of the school environment) appeared to protect youths’ expectations from the deleterious impact of low parental expectations.

Co-occurring serious mental illnesses and substance use disorders as predictors of assaultive infraction charges among adult male jail inmates

This study used self-report data from 4642 adult male jail inmates to test the hypothesis that inmates with co-occurring serious mental illnesses (SMIs) and substance use disorders (SUDs) (i.e. co-occurring disorders) would report having been officially charged for assaulting staff or inmates more often than inmates without co-occurring disorders. Negative binomial regression indicated that relative to inmates with neither SMI nor SUDs, assault charges were most likely to be reported by inmates with co-occurring SMI and substance abuse, co-occurring SMI and substance dependence, and only substance abuse, respectively (ps ≤ .01). Having been charged with assault was also strongly associated with assault victimization before and while incarcerated (ps ≤ .05). This article concludes with recommendations for jail policies and future research.     

Gang activity in English prisons: The prisoners’ perspective

Abstract

Gang activity in American prisons has resulted in serious problems for prisoners and staff. This study assessed prisoners’ perceptions of gang-event frequency in the UK. Interviews with 360 prisoners from nine prisons in England and Wales indicated gang-related events were perceived as more frequent in all male categories of prison than they were in female institutions. Prisoners reported drug possession and prisoner groups being formed along regional origins as the most frequent gang-related activities. Recidivists perceived higher levels of gang-related activity than did first-time prisoners. Gang-related variables also predicted prisoners’ perceptions that groups of prisoners have more control over events in the prison than do staff and that order in the prison may not be maintained. The merits of interviewing prisoners and the implications of the results for maintaining order in prison are discussed.     

Book Reviews

Jarol B. Manheim, All of the People all the Time: Strategic Communication and American Politics (New York: M.E. Sharpe, Inc., 1991), 255 pp. $25.00.

Harry C. Mansfield, Jr., America's Constitutional Soul (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins Press, 1991), pp. 236.

Donald L. Horowitz, A Democratic South Africa? (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1991), 293 pp. $24.95.     

A New Method of Assessing Judicial Workload in Juvenile Dependency Cases

This article describes a new method for calculating judicial workload in dependency or child abuse and neglect cases. In contrast to traditional judicial workload methods, the method described herein produces estimates of judicial workload that take into account the complex role of the juvenile dependency court judge—a role that includes both on‐ and off‐the‐bench activities. The method provides workload estimates that give guidance to courts not only about the minimally sufficient judicial resources needed to accommodate current caseload needs, but also what level of judicial resources would be required to hold substantive dependency court hearings that comport with nationally recognized practice recommendations. The article reviews commonly used judicial workload methods, outlines the new method, and uses a pilot of the method as an example of how the method works in practice. Broader implications of this workload method are also discussed.     

Conspiracy Theories and the Paranoid Style(s) of Mass Opinion

Although conspiracy theories have long been a staple of American political culture, no research has systematically examined the nature of their support in the mass public. Using four nationally representative surveys, sampled between 2006 and 2011, we find that half of the American public consistently endorses at least one conspiracy theory and that many popular conspiracy theories are differentiated along ideological and anomic dimensions. In contrast with many theoretical speculations, we do not find conspiracism to be a product of greater authoritarianism, ignorance, or political conservatism. Rather, the likelihood of supporting conspiracy theories is strongly predicted by a willingness to believe in other unseen, intentional forces and an attraction to Manichean narratives. These findings both demonstrate the widespread allure of conspiracy theories as political explanations and offer new perspectives on the forces that shape mass opinion and American political culture.     

The sinking of the Lusitania: reviewing the evidence.

On the afternoon of 7 May 1915 the Cunard Liner Lusitania was torpedoed by a German U-boat whilst en route to Liverpool. Consequently in sank with the loss of 1,195 lives. A series of investigative and formal research exercises, undertaken in the light of eye-witness accounts of the events surrounding that tragedy, has given rise to a number of hypotheses concerning the loss of this vessel. In this paper all the available evidence concerning the attack, and the one or more explosions that occurred, is summarised. The conclusions regarding the torpedo effects and the most likely causes of the secondary events are reported.     

The Changing Structure of American Cities: A Study of the Diffusion of Innovation

Using historical and numerical analysis and the five-part schema, this study finds that over the past 50 years structural modifications and adaptations by American cities have generally followed the standard S curve of the diffusion of innovation. In tests of Kaufman's and Hirshman's theories of epochs of change from representativeness to administrative efficiency, this study determines that mayor-council cities have, in a standard innovation diffusion S curve, adopted many of the key features of council-manager cities, increasing their administrative efficiency. At the same time, council-manager cities, again in an S curve, have adopted many of the key features of mayor-council cities, increasing their political responsiveness. Fewer cities are now either distinctly mayor-council or council-manager in form, and most cities are structurally less distinct, constituting a newly merged or hybrid model of local government—the type III city.