Jason Manning

Microaggression and Moral Cultures

Campus activists and others might refer to slights of one’s ethnicity or other cultural characteristics as “microaggressions,” and they might use various forums to publicize them. Here we examine this phenomenon by drawing from Donald Black’s theories of conflict and from cross-cultural studies of conflict and morality. We argue that this behavior resembles other conflict tactics in which the aggrieved actively seek the support of third parties as well as those that focus on oppression. We identify the social conditions associated with each feature, and we discuss how the rise of these conditions has led to large-scale moral change such as the emergence of a victimhood culture that is distinct from the honor cultures and dignity cultures of the past.

The Social Structure of Homicide-Suicide

This article focuses on intimate partner killings to address the question of why some killers subsequently commit suicide whereas others do not. Utilizing Blackian theories of conflict management and Manning’s theory of suicide, it advances hypotheses about when intimate partner conflict will result in homicide-suicide rather than homicide alone. These hypotheses propose that differing amounts of status superiority and relational distance predict and explain different patterns of lethal violence. The hypotheses are illustrated and supported with data taken from a study of intimate partner homicides in the state of West Virginia. The article concludes by arguing for a micro-structural model that addresses suicide, homicide, and homicide-suicide.

Student Accountability in Team-Based Learning Classes.

Team-based learning (TBL) is a form of small-group learning that assumes stable teams promote accountability. Teamwork promotes communication among members; application exercises promote active learning. Students must prepare for each class; failure to do so harms their team’s performance. Therefore, TBL promotes accountability. As part of the course grade, students assess the performance of their teammates. The evaluation forces students to rank their teammates and to provide rationale for the highest and lowest rankings. These evaluations provide rich data on small-group dynamics. In this paper, we analyze 211 student teammate assessments. We find evidence that teams consistently give the lowest evaluations to their least involved members, suggesting that the team component increases accountability, which can promote learning. From these findings we draw implications about small-group dynamics in general and the pedagogy of TBL in particular.

Campus Culture Wars and the Sociology of Morality

In 2014 Comparative Sociology published our analysis of microaggression complaints – a comparative and theoretical piece addressing microaggression complaints as a form of social control indicative of a distinct moral culture. The article attracted a surprising amount of attention in popular media, and with this attention came confusion and controversy. Here we respond to popular accounts of our work, addressing common criticisms and confusions as well as the sociological question of why the article produced such strong reactions. We conclude by clarifying the sociology of morality’s role in moral debates and suggesting ways that sociological knowledge can inform debate and guide reform.

The Impression Management Tactics of an Immigration Think Tank

Interest groups or “think tanks” influence how people and policymakers understand public policies in part by using impression management to enhance their credibility as information sources. Using immigration policy as a case study, this research examines the impression management tactics of one interest group (the Center for Immigration Studies), compares its coverage of immigration issues to that of large-circulation U.S. newspapers, and determines the extent to which it has spread its messages across various news outlets. Although the organization’s positions on immigration represent a negative outlier in the debate, it has entered the dominant political discourse. The study offers a new methodological and conceptual framework for analyzing the behavior and impact of think tanks, as well as for studying impression management more generally.

Trigger Warnings, Safe Spaces, and the Language of Victimhood

Victimhood culture includes more than microaggression complaints. Campbell and Manning describe contemporary calls for trigger warnings and safe spaces, and how they mesh with victimhood culture’s central moral concerns. They consider whether these practices actually help those they are intended to protect or whether they are counterproductive. They note that both phenomena rely on the language of physical harm and discuss the role of expanded concepts of harm in the moral language of victimhood. This language, which includes new moral jargon and distinctive usage of common words, leads to confusion and conflict between campus activists and the outside world.

Victimhood, Academic Freedom, and Free Speech

There is an inherent tension between the ideals of victimhood culture and the ideals of free speech and academic freedom. Campbell and Manning discuss legal norms for regulating speech. They describe how campus activists commonly reject legal and folk norms regarding free speech and push for greater restrictions, often justifying these with an expansive conception of harm. Despite widespread belief in the value of academic freedom, colleges and universities have already introduced many speech restrictions. Indeed, rather than having more free speech than the larger society, campuses have far less. On campus, the most strenuous censorship occurs at the behest of leftist activists and their sympathizers and targets those who question victimhood culture. But the campus also faces censorship from the right, in the form of outsiders who are outraged over the speech of campus activists. As campus culture continues to depart from mainstream morality, such problems will increase.

Sociology, Social Justice, and Victimhood

Campbell and Manning examine how victimhood culture affects the discipline of sociology. The moral concerns of victimhood culture can lead to distortions of research and unscientific evaluations of theory. They discuss the potential of sociology as a science and potential tool for reform, and argue that the failure to distinguish between facts and values undermines this potential. Many sociologists neglect scientific goals and see sociology as synonymous with the pursuit of social justice. Campbell and Manning discuss the concept of social justice and its uses in moral decision-making. Like sociology, social justice has promise, but the moral climate of universities is such that social justice is synonymous with victimhood culture and any who dissent from this view are silenced. Conflating sociology with social justice, and social justice with victimhood culture, hampers our ability to seriously pursue social science and social reform.

False Accusations, Moral Panics, and the Manufacture of Victimhood

Campbell and Manning examine false claims of victimhood, as when people pretend to be victims of serious crimes. They consider the logic of such claims and the social conditions that give rise to them. False accusations are a way of manipulating third parties and arise under conditions that increase reliance on third parties while reducing due process. Victimhood culture encourages false accusations in the form of hate crime hoaxes, in which people claim to have been victimized by members of a more privileged social group. College campuses are especially prone to hate crime hoaxes, as well as moral panics that make it difficult and dangerous for anyone to express skepticism of victimhood claims. Campbell and Manning describe the dynamics of moral panic and consider the extent to which moral panic shapes contemporary concerns about campus rape culture.

Opposition, Imitation, and the Spread of Victimhood

Campbell and Manning discuss how new moral cultures spread, focusing on the dynamics involved in the spread of victimhood culture. These include changes in childhood socialization, such as higher degrees of adult supervision and protection in the form of helicopter parenting. Campbell and Manning argue that victimhood culture is most developed among social elites, and this makes it a potentially valuable form of cultural capital for those seeking upward mobility, causing it to spread downward in the status structure. The spread of victimhood is strenuously opposed by many, but opposition can turn into imitation as critics of campus culture adopt the language and tactics of their adversaries. Campbell and Manning discuss the phenomenon of competitive victimhood, and how it can aid the spread of victimhood culture, but also produce purity spirals that limit the effectiveness of victimhood activists.