Attention! The meanings of attention to politics in surveys

This research note explores the role of reported attention to politics in survey overclaiming about politics. Using recognition of real and fictitious political parties in the context of the UK's 2019 European Parliament elections, we find that people who report higher attention to politics are more likely to over-report recognition of fictitious parties, and are also more likely to recognize new real political parties - those that emerged around the issue of ‘Brexit’ in the months before the election. To resolve these patterns, we show that political attention makes little difference to the accuracy of responses for people who have high political knowledge, or if it does so, it increases accuracy. However, for those with lower political knowledge, high reported political attention is a source of potential survey error and bias. These findings are consistent with higher survey satisficing and norm compliance among those who report having greater attention to politics, particularly among those who have lower knowledge. The implications are important for understanding the meaning and consequences of ‘attention to politics’ in surveys.     

Fictional power and control and the reality of abusive behaviour

In response to recent sociological studies that suggest that the seriousness of psychological, emotional and verbal abuse are not only dismissed but are also the least identified in dating relationships, this article undertakes an analysis of these underexplored, ‘less visible’, elements using Ellen Pence and Michael Paymar’s ‘Power and Control’ and ‘Equality’ wheels, it compares Stephanie Meyer’s 10th anniversary re-release of Twilight, and Life and Death: Twilight Reimagined, which tells the same story as Twilight, but with the genders reversed are compared using the ‘Power and Control’ and ‘Equality’ wheels. The author argues that Life and Death is not just a simple swap of names and pronouns, as Meyer asserts, but that the alterations of thoughts and actions of the characters reflect commonly held ideas about gender, including the perpetration of psychological, emotional and verbal abuse in intimate relationships as hallmarks of masculinity. Moreover it shows that consistent with the feminisation of vampire Edythe Cullen and mortal Beau Swan, the intimate relationship in Life and Death more closely resembles that of a non-violent and equitable relationship, which significantly lessens the abuse, and reinforces traditionally socially accepted messages about gender in intimate relationships.     

Early Innovation Adoption: Effects of Performance-Based Motivation and Organizational Characteristics

Abstract

Early adopters of innovation play a critical role in the successful spread of the innovation by legitimizing the adoption of the innovation and/or providing evidence of its effectiveness. This article explores why some organizations adopt innovations before than others by focusing on determinants of early innovation adoption. Analysis reveals that there is a U-shaped influence of organizational performance on early innovation adoption. Most organizations are encouraged to be early adopters by their poor performance, but some organizations with very high performance tend to be innovation-friendly. Other organizational characteristics such as organizational size and pro-innovation bias also have positive impacts on early innovation adoption. These findings have practical implications about strategies for successfully diffusing innovations.     

Candidate and party affective polarization in U.S. presidential elections: The person-negativity bias?

We investigate the degree of affective polarization in presidential election years toward the two major parties and their nominees. Notwithstanding studies which show that individuating information about an out-group member can generate a person-positivity bias, we demonstrate a person-negativity bias directed at out-party candidates at least for some. We motivate and test two hypotheses: first, we expect more sophisticated partisans to display a greater difference in their feelings towards specific candidates compared to evaluations of the parties themselves; second, we anticipate sophisticated partisans will exhibit a person-negativity bias toward out-party candidates and a person-positivity bias toward in-party candidates. The results accentuate the conditional nature of the person-positivity bias and shed light on how political sophistication is linked to affective polarization.     

“台湾人”群体对中国大陆的刻板印象

当代台湾已经形成"台湾人群体",而视大陆人为"他群",他们对大陆的刻板印象多是负面的,从而形成偏见与歧视,对两岸关系造成严重的伤害。这是在两岸关系和平发展进程中,必须关注的一个问题。本文探讨"台湾人群体"对大陆的刻板印象的具体表现及其危害,并且针对现阶段两岸交流的情况,分析其对减少刻板印象的作用与局限,认为通过两岸群际沟通减少刻板印象,进而减少偏见与歧视需要经过相当长的过程,至于增强两岸认同,形成"两岸共同体"更需要走很长的路。     

The entrepreneurial puzzle: explaining the gender gap

We document the substantial gender gap that exists among university scientists with regard to entrepreneurial activity using a variety of measures and explore factors leading to the disparity. We focus particularly on the biomedical sciences. The contextual explanation that women are under-represented in the types of positions from which faculty typically launch entrepreneurial activity is the most obvious. But the data suggest that for the biomedical sciences context is not sufficient in explaining the entrepreneurial gap. We look elsewhere to factors affecting supply and factors affecting demand. The former include gender differences in attitudes towards risk, competition, “selling” of “science,” type of research and geographic location. The latter include the role of networks, preferences of venture capitalists and “gender discounting.” We explore the associated hypotheses. We provide few tests and conclude that the research agenda is wide open and interesting.

The Messenger Overwhelming the Message: Ideological Cues and Perceptions of Bias in Television News

Survey research has demonstrated that citizens perceive ideological bias in television news, specifically with regard to CNN and Fox News Channel (FNC), which allegedly represent the liberal and conservative viewpoint, respectively. In this paper I argue that attaching the CNN and FNC labels to news stories sends an ideological cue to the viewer regarding the content of the story. Utilizing an experimental design that allows manipulation of the network attribution of actual FNC and CNN content, I am able to demonstrate that the CNN and FNC labels function as ideological signals to the viewer, with this signal being most pronounced among ideologues whose views are supposedly at odds with those attributed to the network.

Intersectionality – A challenge for development research and practice?

“Intersectionality” as a concept is increasingly finding its way into development work. In order to develop an understanding of the concept, this article shows how intersectionality can be used as a conceptual framework to analyse identity-based development claims. The article builds on qualitative research with people living in the countryside in northwest Pakistan to develop an intersectional methodology to engage with development claims. It uses a three-step analytical model to identify subject positions from which different people negotiate “eligibility for development'' and ‘‘responsibility to develop”. The paper shows how frequently used categorisations such as gender and class should be complicated by development practitioners and worked with in a more nuanced way.     

Market men and station women: changing significations of gendered space in Accra,Ghana

It is impossible to understand the gendered relation between women and public space without taking into account its other, that is, male engagements with and in space. Our joint paper contrasts the public spaces of a market and a bus station in central Accra, Ghana. While the former is historically associated with female entrepreneurship, masculinity is deeply inscribed in the activities defining the latter. However, recent developments gradually undermine these gendered divides. By focusing on interpersonal claims to entrepreneurial places in the two locations, we illustrate how the configurations and co-constructions of gender and space are exposed to on-going, often subtle shifts, which are impelled by dialectically grounded transformations of quotidian spatial practices and social relations. Expanding upon the notion of viri–/uxorilocality, we explore shifts in the gendered strategies of newcomers establishing their presence in the two spaces and the extent to which these practices may alter gendered spatial significations.     

Causes of absenteeism at the secondary level in Jamaica: parents' perspectives

This article examines parents' views on the causes of students' absenteeism at the secondary level, using a sample of 221 parents from nine schools across Jamaica. The key factors identified as causes are little value for education, lack of resources, and factors within the immediate school environment. Apart from improvements to the school environment, the article underscores the need to provide employment-generating opportunities to enable parents to meet the needs of their children, and emphasises that efforts to address students' absenteeism must involve multi-agency partnerships including parents, community members, and social workers.