Richard L. Allen

A schema-based approach to modeling an african-american racial belief system

We use a cognitive schema-based approach to model an African-American racial belief system, showing the content of racial belief systems in a national sample to be associated with the individuals degree of sodoeconomic status, religiosity, and exposure to black media. We find that African-Americans with a higher sodoeconomic status are less supportive of black political autonomy and that they feel themselves more distant from black masses and black elites than do those of lower socioeconomic status. Religiosity, while unrelated to black autonomy, strengthens closeness to black masses and black elites. Black television—and, to a much lesser degree, black print media—had a consistent impact on the racial belief system. We conclude by discussing the complexity of the African-American racial belief system and potential directions for future work.

Consequences of the Black Sense of Self

In this study, the authors proposed that African Americans, unlike their European American counterparts, fashion a sense of self with a more collectivistic focus. Moreover, it was hypothesized that Black self-constructs should have a marked influence on a range of outcomes. Using a sample of African American adults, the influence of a multifaceted Black self-construct (African self-consciousness, ethnic identity, and Black identity) was examined on specific social and political orientations. Separating these self-constructs into African-centered and non-African-centered, the authors were able to show that the separate facets of the self-construct are correlated, reflect a strong sense of self, indicate a collectivist orientation, and tend to affect a number of important social and political orientations. African self-consciousness, as an example of African-centered theorizing of the concept of self, had an effect on almost all the outcomes in predictable ways and, in a comparative sense, was a more significant construct than the other facets.

THE UCLA LONELINESS SCALE: INVARIANCE OF SOCIAL STRUCTURAL CHARACTERISTICS

Abstract This study examines the structure and external validity of a reduced form of the revised UCLA Loneliness Scale. With a random sample of adults from a large metropolitan area ( N = 619), we used structural equation modeling to test the adequacy of a seven-item version of the UCLA Loneliness Scale assessing feelings of friendship and to analyze a hierarchy of factorial invariance hypotheses across a range of population groups. Our findings indicated that the abbreviated loneliness scale represents a good global fit and that the component fit measures are also highly satisfactory. Further, there were no differences in the conception of loneliness represented by the scale across the different population groups defined by gender, race, marital status, employment status, income, age and education. There were mean differences for some variables, indicating generally that those of lower social economic status (blacks, women and those with lower income) and those who were married were more likely to feel lonely. We conclude that the causes and consequences of differential loneliness based on social structural situation needs to be more cohesively analyzed, and that the seven-item univariate loneliness scale invariant across gender, race, marital status, employment status, income, age and education, as presented in this research merits further use.

The Reliability and Stability of Television Exposure

A study was conducted to assess the reliability and stability of television exposure, and the relationship of various demographic variables to this, presumed hypothetical construct, when measurement error is removed. A secondary analysis of survey data collected from a sample of black adults over two points in time served as the basis for this investigation. Using a LISREL model. the results indicated that: (1) the indicators of television exposure are moderately reliable and any unreliability is almost entirely due to random error; (2) the construct is substantially unstable over the interval assessed and (3) education is inversely related to television exposure. it was concluded that more attention should be given to theoretically defining media exposure, a central concept in communication research, and to taking into account measurement error.

Media public affairs exposure: Issues and alternative strategies

This study examined the reliability and stability of newspaper and television public affairs exposure; the relationship of social structural variables and media exposure, when measurement error is taken into account; and the effect of these social structural variables on change in exposure. A secondary analysis was performed on a two wave national study composed of 7201 respondents. Using a LISREL model, the results indicated that: (1) the indicators of newspaper public affairs exposure were more reliable than the indicators for television public affairs exposure; conversely, the television public affairs construct was more stable than the newspaper construct, although both yielded fairly high stability estimates; (2) various indicators of location in the social structure (age, education, income, perceived social class, and sex) had effects on exposure to newspaper and television public affairs information, and effects on the change in this type of exposure over time. It was concluded that more attention ...

Cohort Differences in the Structure and Outcomes of an African American Belief System.

The authors examine the structure of African American belief systems across different age strata or cohorts. The authors speculate that, because of negative categorical treatment on the part of the dominant culture, African Americans in different age cohorts possess and share a common schemalike set of beliefs, culminating in “double consciousness.” The results demonstrate substantial similarity across age cohorts of African Americans in their understanding of these belief systems and their tendency to share a strong sense of group attachment and self-worth. The results also indicate substantial overall mean differences in age groups. Further, the authors found that the different constructs of these belief systems relate differentially to an individual’s sense of well-being and system orientation for those who came of age during the Civil Rights era, especially as compared to those who were socialized during an earlier era.

The social reality construction of attitudes toward the social roles of women and African Americans

This article explores how individuals construct various conceptions of the world, and how the mass media, especially television, influence belief structures and perceptions of reality. A structural equation model is formulated such that attitudes toward the social roles of African Americans and women (normative equality) are explained by location in the social structure (objective and perceived social class and education), media exposure (newspaper, television, magazine, and radio), and interpersonal discussion. The model allows for measurement error in the endogenous variables. The empirical patterns from within a sample of urban adults are interpreted as supporting the importance of the mass media (particularly television) and of interpersonal discussion in explaining our version of the normative equality construct.

Structural equality in black and white

In this paper, I investigated the impact of location in the social structure and communication processes on white and black responses to societal change conceptions of equality (structural equality), one conception that entailed beliefs about abstract notions of equality and one that pertained to a concrete reference‐based conception of inequality (of blacks). A recent national survey provided the data to test 12 hypotheses formulated from theorizing in the area of stratification beliefs. Using covariance analysis resulted in substantial support for the prediction. Overall, blacks more strongly favored using structural means to attain equality (general and racial equality) than did whites. Those blacks and whites better placed in the social system were more likely to embrace these institutional change solutions to inequality, and whites who watched more television news were more likely to embrace conceptions of racial structural inequality. Moreover, whites who were less well placed in society were more l...

Mass Communication and the Political Participation of Black Americans.

A survey of N=268 black adults in San Francisco examines the role of mass media exposure in explaining three indices of political participation. In a hierarchical regression analysis, five demograp...

Communication processes and consumerism: The case of Venezuela

This study investigates the influence of various television content types on different dimensions of consumerism. We hypothesize that exposure to different content on television (entertainment programming, telenovelas, and news) influences ideas on consumerism differentially. Interpersonal discussion of societal issues is assumed to have a positive impact on consumerism. Finally, we predict that several indicators of location within the social structure affect both communication processes and consumerism conceptions. Survey data were collected in a large metropolitan area of a media‐rich, underdeveloped society. Using structural equation modeling with latent variables, the proposed model provided a good fit There is at least partial support for most of the hypotheses. We conclude that communication processes have predictable effects on what individuals perceive to constitute a good life in both abstract and concrete terms, and that this may have implications for pursuing development plans.