Disagreeing about Disagreement: How Conflict in Social Networks Affects Political Behavior
At the center of debates on deliberative democracy is the issue of how much deliberation citizens experience in their social networks. These "disagreements about disagreement" come in a variety of forms, with scholars advocating different empirical approaches (e.g., Huckfeldt, Johnson, and...
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Published in | American journal of political science Vol. 57; no. 1; pp. 120 - 134 |
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Main Authors | , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
Malden, USA
Blackwell Publishing Inc
01.01.2013
Wiley Subscription Services Blackwell Publishing Ltd |
Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | At the center of debates on deliberative democracy is the issue of how much deliberation citizens experience in their social networks. These "disagreements about disagreement" come in a variety of forms, with scholars advocating different empirical approaches (e.g., Huckfeldt, Johnson, and Sprague 2004; Mutz 2006) and coming to different substantive conclusions. We address these discrepancies by going back to the basics: investigating the consequences of conceptual and measurement differences for key findings relating interpersonal political disagreement to political attitudes and behaviors. Drawing on the 2008–2009 ANES panel study, we find evidence that different measures of disagreement have distinct effects when it comes to individuals' preferences, patterns of engagement, and propensities to participate. We discuss the implications for the study of social influence; as interpersonal disagreement can mean different things, scholars should think carefully about how to study it and should exercise caution when making pronouncements about its empirical and democratic consequences. |
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Bibliography: | ArticleID:AJPS620 ark:/67375/WNG-J8WJP7J7-D istex:5F9F72371C161F25E4BBD49268278B1360E5ED62 Casey A. Klofstad is Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Miami, 5250 University Drive, Jenkins Building, Room 314‐G, Coral Gables, FL 33146‐6534 klofstad@gmail.com Scott D. McClurg is Professor of Political Science, Southern Illinois University, 3166 Faner Hall, Mailstop 4501, Carbondale, IL 62901‐4501 . Anand Edward Sokhey is Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of Colorado at Boulder, Ketchum 106, UCB 333, Boulder, CO 80309 anand.sokhey@colorado.edu mcclurg@siu.edu We are grateful to Betsy Sinclair, Andrew Therriault, Rick Wilson, and the anonymous reviewers for helpful comments at various stages of the project. ObjectType-Article-2 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-1 content type line 23 ObjectType-Article-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 |
ISSN: | 0092-5853 1540-5907 |
DOI: | 10.1111/j.1540-5907.2012.00620.x |