Richard Seltzer

The social location of those holding antihomosexual attitudes

Using data from a 1985 national sample of over 2300 adults, an index of attitudes toward homosexuality was created from 13 different questions. Respondents were more likely to hold antihomosexual attitudes if they were politically conservative, religious, older, less educated, male, married or widowed, or from the South. The effects of religiosity were less pronounced among black respondents. In addition, middle-aged respondents were more liberal than younger or older respondents if they were college educated or black.

Color Differences in the Afro-American Community and the Differences They Make.

What is the role of skin-color differences in Afro-American society and politics? In recent years, there has been an upsurge of interest in the phenomenon, especially among historians (Morton, 1985). The purpose of this brief article is to analyze recent socialscience survey data on the significance of color stratification among Afro-Americans. It has long been argued that there are significant social-class differences between lightand darker-skin Blacks, as well as differences in social and political attitudes (Frazier, 1957, p. 18; Myrdal, 1944, 1962, pp. 695-700). In this article, we test the validity of this hypothesis about skin-color differences among Black Americans and the differences they make in terms of social and political attitudes.

Race, class, and culture : a study in Afro-American mass opinion

Tables Preface 1. Theoretical Perspectives 2. Patterning of Racial Differences in Mass Culture 3. Class and the Patterning of Racial Differences in Mass Culture 4. The Internal Foundations of Afro-American Mass Culture 5. Afro-American Culture and the Internal Dynamics of Mass Culture 6. Conclusion Appendix Notes References Index

Police satisfaction with their jobs: arresting officers in the District of Columbia

Over three hundred police officers from the District of Columbia were surveyed as they waited for court appearances. Although police officers were satisfied with their jobs, morale was low. Background and situational variables did not adequately predict satisfaction levels. Satisfaction levels were better predicted given an officer’s attitudes toward their fellow officers, their superiors, and the race‐relations/promotion process within the Department.

Media Use and Perceptions of Crime.

P There has long been a tradition in mass communication research of linking the media, particularly television and newspaper, with public opinion formation. The rationale for studying the medias impact on public opinion lies in the notion that the public utilizes information appearing in the media for the formation of opinions about and perceptions of a given phenomenon. The present work focuses on the impact of the media in the formation of public opinion about crime. Specifically, it examines how differences in media usage are reflected in differences in perceptions of the causes and fear of crime. Since the majority of people have little direct experience with crime (and especially its causes), it seems reasonable t o assume that public perceptions of crime are. to some extent, formed on the basis of information received from media presentations. This assumption is buttressed by studies which indicate that: I ) 95% of those polled cite the mass media as their primary source of information about crime; 2) the media provide details about crimes which enable users to discuss the causes of crime and solutions to the crime problem; and 3) crime, in comparison to other topics, is a well-covered topic.1 A number of content analyses provide us with knowledge regarding media coverage

Responses to affirmative action: Is there a question order affect?

Abstract This paper analyzes the affect of question order on support for affirmative action. While the literature is replete with studies detailing the racial differences for support for affirmative action, there is a dearth of studies that analyze how probing, using open-ended questions, can influence individuals’ responses. Given this, we seek to analyze and explain how open-ended questions, related to affirmative action, might affect responses to close-ended questions as well as how their joint interaction help us to understand resonant attitudes. Using a split-ballot approach, we found that responses to the closedended question were significantly affected by the experimental design.