Browsing by Subject "Group identity"
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Item The myth of political participation among Asian Americans(2012-05) Huang, Tao-Fang; Shaw, Daron R., 1966-; Shaw, Daron R., 1966-Although Asian Americans have the highest growth rate, their electoral participation does not commensurate with their numerical strength. This research explores the causes of Asian Americans' low level of electoral participation. I argue that acculturation presents barriers for Asian Americans to exert their political power. This project combined a survey-based experiment on and in-depth interviews with Asian Americans in Austin, in addition to existing data (CPS and the PNAAPS). I first estimate the effects of socioeconomic status on turnout across racial and ethnic groups. The results demonstrate that while education and income have limited effects on Asian American turnout at the aggregate level, their positive influence on turnout still holds for Asian Americans at the individual level, though the effect varies by nativity. Furthermore, education and income effects on turnout are greatest among Whites. The differences of these effects between Whites and Asians are especially prominent among the higher socioeconomic stratum. I next find that acculturation experiences, group connectedness, and hybrid identity elevate levels of turnout among Asian Americans. Those who are more residentially stable and sense shared Asian culture are more likely to vote, while the Asian-born are less likely to vote. In addition, experiences of racial/ethnic discrimination are likely to turn Asians away from their American-ness, while shared cultural commonality helps to foster the "Asian American" identity. Last, the experiment results suggest that a lack of ethnic cues for Asian Americans may have contributed to their low turnout rates: Asian American voters value descriptive representation, and ethnic cues effectively operate among them, especially the less politically engaged. While voters' support for a coethnic candidate is evident in the study, the evidence of their cross- or pan-ethnic support is limited. The project provides a window into the political incorporation of immigrant populations. The study speaks to the literature on political participation, racial/ethnic politics and identity politics. In addition, the findings broaden our understanding of minority political behavior, and the process by which immigrant populations incorporate into American political system, a promise of democratic representation.Item The political origins of support for redistribution : Argentina and Peru in comparative perspective(2012-12) Camacho Solis, Luis Antonio Antonio; Weyland, Kurt Gerhard; Elkins, Zachary; Greene, Kenneth; Madrid, Raul L; Valentino, NicholasWhy do some individuals endorse public policies aimed at reducing income inequality while others oppose them? Why is there widespread support for such policies in certain countries, but not in others? This dissertation advances scholarship toward a general theory of support for redistribution by analyzing variation in redistributive attitudes within and across two developing democracies, Argentina and Peru. Support for redistribution is higher in the former country. It examines existing theories based on interests and group identity, explanations whose predictions have been almost exclusively evaluated in the context of advanced industrial democracies. It also introduces and assesses a belief-based explanation that focuses on inequality frames, simplified mental models of the issue of inequality comprised of individuals’ beliefs about the causes of economic outcomes, about the extent to which society provides equal opportunities, and about the nature of wealth accumulation. This dissertation argues that these theories are complementary and identifies the contextual factors that condition the extent to which the considerations emphasized by these accounts inform redistributive attitudes. Interests and group identity are salient in contexts where individuals have access to material and informational resources that make them more cognizant of their position along economic and ethnic cleavages. In contrast, inequality frames inform redistributive attitudes regardless of context because of their inside-the-head nature. This study shows that the relative dominance of redistributive beliefs in Argentina and self-reliance beliefs in Peru help explain why support for redistribution is higher in the former country. Finally, this dissertation develops a politico-historical explanation for why and how these frames became relatively dominant. This account argues that individuals’ inequality frames are relatively stable during times of normal politics, but malleable during certain critical political junctures brought about by major events like mass political incorporation or economic crises. During such times, individuals are particularly receptive to elite cues and messages that are transmitted not only via rhetoric but also via public policies. Redistributive beliefs become dominant wherever political actors whose discourse features elements consistent with the redistributive frame are able to implement successful comprehensive social policies. The self-reliance frame becomes dominant in countries where this combination of rhetoric and policies does not take place during a critical juncture.Item Sense of co-accomplishment in collaborative work as threshold in establishing a sense of community in an online course(2004) Lee, Dongjoo; Resta, Paul E.This study explored students’ sense of community in an online collaborative learning environment, focusing on the factors influencing students’ sense of community, the relationships among the factors, and the influences of a sense of community. The setting of this study was a graduate-level online course on Computer Supported Collaborative Learning in which all course activities were conducted collaboratively through online communications. Data were collected from multiple sources including participants’ electronic messages posted in public areas of the computer conferencing system, transcripts of online chats, interviews with the participants, participants’ written reflections on their learning process, and an instrument measuring students’ sense of community. Data were analyzed using the coding procedures for developing grounded theory proposed by Strauss and Corbin (1998). Results of the data analysis indicated that students established their sense of community by experiencing a sense of coaccomplishment through collaboration. Results also indicated that the factors influencing students’ sense of community related to three dimensions: group interaction, course context, and individual differences. Students’ sense of community was influenced primarily by the outcomes of interactions with group members, such as group members’ behaviors showing consideration for others, responding to their contributions, and contributing to the group collaboration. Factors related to the course context, such as the collaborative nature of the course, the technology used for the course, and the instructor’s role, influenced students’ sense of community by either facilitating or interfering with the group interactions. In addition, some factors resulting from individual differences in backgrounds and characteristics, such as personalities and attitudes toward collaborative learning, were critical for students to develop a sense of community. Once a sense of community was established, students developed a sense of camaraderie with their group members, felt more comfortable in working together, developed a greater sense of responsibility, and developed trust in their group members. The consequences of a sense of community, in turn, influenced the factors that promoted a sense of community when the students engaged in the next collaborative task.Item This is not every night : space, time, and group identity in the Jacobean court masque(2015-08) Lindsay, Thomas Edward; Mallin, Eric Scott; Wojciehowski, Hannah Chapelle, 1957-; Kornhaber, David D; Loehlin, James N; Marcus, Leah SThis dissertation explores the relationship between space, time, dramatic narrative, and group identity in the Jacobean court masque. In early 17th century England, the court masque was a high-profile and multimodal seasonal event for the nation’s royal family and their court. Critics have recognized many of the ways the masque bonded this group together, but have not shown how its cohesive power manifested in individual masques. Following critical consensus, this dissertation first shows how all masque events, regardless of their particular elements and contexts, involved courtiers in embodied experiences of group inclusion, socio-political hierarchy, and royal favor. Next, in a series of case studies, this dissertation shows how three Jacobean masques tapped into these experiences in order to orient the court around various human centers, namely King James I, Queen Anna, Prince Henry, and Gentlemen of the royal Bedchamber. These case studies demonstrate how masques used dramatic narrative to engineer group experience and group identity, specifically by making meaning out their own socio-political realities in space and time. In general, then, this dissertation envisions the court masque as a highly self-referential form of participatory drama and social partying that worked to shape group identity by collapsing the court’s present realities into its socio-politically meaningful dramatic fictions.Item Understanding the cognitive and affective underpinnings of whistleblowing(2013-08) Buhrmester, Michael Duane; Swann, William B.Enron, Pfizer, UBS, Halliburton: In recent years, organizational wrongdoing has cost taxpayers and stakeholders billions of dollars. Whistleblowers, organizational insiders who witness and report wrongdoing with the intent of effecting an organizational response, play a major role as combatants to such corruption. What motivates whistleblowers versus silent witnesses of wrongdoing? And what cognitive and emotional patterns underlie their actions? Here I construe whistleblowing as a personally costly but pro-organizational action (Miceli, Near, & Dworkin, 2008). As such, whistleblowing represents a novel type of extreme pro-group behavior that identity fusion theory seeks to explain (Swann, Jetten, Gomez, Whitehouse, & Bastian, 2012). The identity fusion approach posits that some people experience a visceral feeling of "oneness" with a group, a feeling that motivates a range of extreme pro-group actions. Across four preliminary studies, I first establish that fusion with one's organization (i.e., work or university) parallels fusion with other groups (e.g., country, political party). In addition, Preliminary Study 4 shows that fusion and whistleblowing are associated in retrospective accounts of workplace behavior. Given this initial support, a controlled lab experiment was conducted to address two major questions. First, to what extent is identity fusion with one's university associated with initial and formal whistleblowing behaviors? Second, in what ways, if any, do strongly vs. weakly fused individuals' cognitive and emotional experiences differ in response to witnessing organizational wrongdoing? As hypothesized, fusion with one's university predicted spontaneous reporting of an in-group transgressor. Strongly fused students' actions were associated with several cognitive and emotional factors, and cross-method evidence indicated that active negative emotions (e.g., anger) coupled with a heightened sense of personal responsibility drove strongly fused persons to spontaneously blow the whistle. Furthermore, strongly fused students were also especially likely to formally (as compared to spontaneously) report the transgressor. Evidence from participants' debriefing responses suggested that while weakly fused students diffused formal reporting responsibility to others, strongly fused students felt personally responsible to follow-through with a formal report. Overall, these results suggest that identity fusion is a promising perspective for understanding motives underlying personally costly pro-group behaviors.