The Correspondence Between Religious Orientation and Socio-Political Liberalism and Conservatism*

Evidence of correspondence in the general population between religious and sociopolitical liberalism and conservatism is as yet inconclusive. This may in part stem from failure to appropriately assess both religious liberalism and socio-political liberalism-conservatism. Upon taking steps to correct these shortcomings, it was found that, for a semi-rural population in west-central Illinois, Christian conservatism was significantly and positively related to socio-political status quo orientation and to conservative political party preference. Conversely, Christian liberalism was found to be significantly and positively related to socio-political change orientation and to liberal political party preference. It was also found that a slight increment in the majority of these relationships occurred for individuals having experienced unfulfilled occupational expectations. This latter finding is interpreted to suggest that the encountering of adverse circumstances, potentially emanating from the social system, operates to increase the correspondence between religious and socio-political liberalism and conservatism.     

Effects of Love Styles on Marital Satisfaction in Heterosexual Couples: A Dyadic Approach

The main objective of this study was to test Actor-Partner Interdependence Models (APIM) describing the relationship between wives' and husbands' love styles and marital satisfaction within heterosexual couples (n=146 couples). Love styles (i.e., Eros, Ludus, Storge, Mania, Pragma, Agape) were set out in Lee's theory of love, which defines love as an attitude, meaning a predisposition to think, feel, and behave toward one's partner. Six APIMs representing each love style were tested using a path analysis procedure. Length of marriage and wives' and husbands' depressive moods were entered into the models as control variables. The results revealed that among the love styles, only Eros contributed to marital satisfaction for both men and women. However, our results showed that wives' Eros style had a positive impact on husbands' marital satisfaction, whereas husbands' Eros style did not influence wives' marital satisfaction.     

DYNAMIC INDICATORS OF SELF-PERCEIVED CONSERVATISM

This study looks at the relationship between standard indicators of conservatism and self-labeling behavior. Many of the variables believed to be indicative of conservatism and liberalism are not the variables people use when labeling themselves conservative or liberal. It is proposed that many of the standard social and political variables tend to be period- and age-specific in terms of their relationship to self-labeling behavior. The variables are period-specific because at any point in time there are a number of issues that are particularly salient and divisive, and therefore tend to affect self-labeling behavior. The variables are age-specific because social networks greatly influence sociopolitical attitudes and affiliations and the makeup of social networks tend to vary over the course of one's life. To test for the period- and age-specific nature of selflabeling behavior the General Social Survey is used. Results suggest that some standard indicators of conservatism are strongly correlated with self-perceived conservatism but only for the youngest age group. Results also show that moral issues such as premarital sex, abortion, pornography and marijuana use are particularly strong correlates of self-labeling behavior for these respondents.     

Heterosexually Married Men Who Have Sex With Men: Marital Separation and Psychological Adjustment

In order to provide an empirical base for generation of theory and the design of intervention and enrichment programs, relationships between youths' perceptions of parental values/behavior and their own sexual attitudes were tested, as well as the interactive effects of a formal course in sex education. Perceptions of parental sexual liberality, concern about nudity in the home during childhood, caring for each other, and sex‐role stereotyping were correlated to adolescents' sexual liberalism, as measured by the Athanasiou and Shaver scale (1969, 1970), and other categorical items which elicited views of homosexuality, access to abortion and sex manuals, sex‐love linkage, premarital sexual relationships, and persons from whom advice about sexual problems would be sought. Sixty males and 75 females, ranging in age from 11 to 19 years, participated. Parental liberality correlated with offspring liberalism and other attitudes. Interactive effects of sex education were found: Sexually educated youths who perceived their parents as moderate reported greater sexual liberalism than those without sex education. No difference related to sex education was found among youths who perceived their parents as conservative or liberal. Lack of parental concern about nudity related to greater adolescent liberalism. Few differences attributable to gender and age were found. The discussion cautions against causal interpretation of correlations and presents avenues for future research.     

From Coalition to Constraint: Modes of Thought in Contemporary American Conservatism

We advocate a relational approach to understanding contemporary conservatism in the United States. Our approach suggests that conservatism provides a cultural repertoire for adherents to use in adapting to new or changed political situations. We provide evidence based on public opinion data that conservatism is neither a single, monolithic ideology nor a mere coalition of convenience among disparate interest groups. Instead, conservatism should be understood as an amalgam of overlapping but distinct styles of thought, held together through a cultural identification with conservative identity.     

Race,Religiosity, and the Women's Vote

Abstract

Much of our popular political discourse focuses on the Democratic character of the women's vote, but there is, in fact, considerable diversity among female voters. Important sectors of the female electorate have political concerns that are at odds with the Democratic Party, though they hold these preferences less strongly than do men. This article focuses on these differences between women and links them to electoral behavior in the 1996 presidential election. I argue that women, like men, cast their vote with the party that best represents their interests, as they understand them. African American women overwhelmingly supported the Democratic Party in 1996, which is consistent with theories of racial group interests, but white women diverge politically.

The main finding of this research is that religious values play a central role in white women's voting behavior, even after taking into account ideological and partisan predispositions. We see this result, I argue, because religious and secular women correctly identify the Republican Party as the repository of social conservatism and the Democratic Party as embracing social liberalism.     

The Return of the Market?: Reflections on the Real "Conservative Tradition" in U.S. Policy Discourse

This article examines the ideological continuity underlying recent changes in U.S. policy, arguing that both the "liberal" policies of the 1960s and the "free market" conservatism of the 1980s were based upon the presuppositions of neoclassical economic theory. I first consider the intellectual assumptions of postwar liberalism, emphasizing the degree to which the dominant paradigm of the period accepted the neoclassical framework. Next I examine the conservative neoclassical critique of liberal ideas that developed in the 1970s. The economic upheavals of that decade demonstrated the limits of a postwar liberalism that was only ambiguously committed to state intervention. The result was the reassertion of a more consistent market model in economic policy discourse. I conclude by considering the ideological effects of the dominant neoclassical paradigm today in directing attention away from crucial social problems, particularly those that result from market forces themselves in a rapidly changing global economy.     

Nonverbal behavior of teachers: Some empirical findings

The effects of systematically varied verbal and nonverbal components of teachers' evaluative behavior upon children's perceptions and attitudes were studied within an experimental classroom. Subjects were 126 sixth-grade students who were removed from their classrooms to participate in a vocabulary lesson. Within each experimental condition a teacher employed one of four evaluative styles: (a) verbally and nonverbally positive, (b) verbally positive and nonverbally negative, (c) verbally negative and nonverbally positive, or (d) verbally and nonverbally negative. The data analysis indicated that teachers' verbal behavior influenced student perception and attraction. Nonverbal behavior influenced student perception and attraction, but only when the teacher was female. The implications of these findings for the study of the adult-child interaction are discussed.     

Comparative-Historical Social Systems and Conservatism: An Attempt at Conceptualization and Classification

By using forms of conservatism as criteria, this paper advances a novel conceptualization and typology of comparative-historical social systems. The paper attempts to do justice to the crucial complexities involved in the relations between a free-market economy, a democratic polity and a free society overall on the one hand and varieties of conservatism on the other. Such attempts are all the more indispensable in light of various simplifications and conflations committed by the conventional wisdom, especially in the USA, in this realm. One of these simplifications is the spurious (American) equation of economic conservatism or the laissez-faire economy with a free society. Another is the broader but also dubious equivalence of the admixture of economic conservatism and formal political democracy, with a free social system. It is the purpose of this article to redress these popular misconceptions. Special emphasis is placed on a peculiar social system denoted authoritarian conservatism or conservative authoritarianism in light of its increasing salience in the USA since the 1980–1990s sequel of its permanent ‘Conservative Revolution’. Given that few endeavors exist to establish a coherent taxonomy of comparative-historical social systems on the basis of these criteria, this paper contributes to filling in a gap in the literature.     

What's sex got to do with it? A family‐based investigation of growing up heterosexual during the twentieth century

This paper explores findings from a cross-generational study of the making of heterosexual relationships in East Yorkshire, which has interviewed women and men within extended families. Using a feminist perspective, it examines the relationship between heterosexuality and adulthood, focussing on sexual attraction, courtship, first kisses, first love and first sex, as mediated within family relationships, and at different historical moments. In this way, the contemporary experiences of young people growing up are compared and contrasted with those of mid-lifers and older adults who formed heterosexual relationships within the context of the changing social and sexual mores of the 1960s/1970s, and the upheavals of World War Two.     

Asexuality: A Multidimensional Approach

While lack of sexual attraction, lack of sexual behavior, and self-identification as asexual have been used as criteria to define asexuality, it is not known how much they overlap in describing the same group of people. This study aimed to assess how many individuals could be identified as asexual based on each of these criteria and on combinations of these criteria. Participants were recruited through the Asexuality Visibility and Education Network, social media, and posts on several health- and lifestyle-related websites. In total, 566 participants between 18 and 72 years old (M = 27.86, SD = 10.53) completed an online survey (24% male, 68.9% female, 7.1% “other”). Based on self-identification or lack of sexual attraction, 71.3% and 69.2%, respectively, of participants were categorized as asexual, while based on lack of sexual behavior only 48.5% were categorized as asexual. Gender differences were found only for those participants who indicated that they did not experience sexual attraction, with more women (72.8%) than men (58.8%) indicating a lack of sexual attraction. Given that self-identification as asexual implies familiarity with the term asexual, we argue for the use of lack of sexual attraction as the primary criterion to define asexuality.     

Sustaining Versus Losing Love: Factors Discriminating the Two

In this research, using a formulation of romantic love derived from previous research, we state a series of hypotheses regarding specific relational characteristics that are predicted to discriminate between those individuals who remain in love with their partners and those who, though once in love, have ceased to love them. Results obtained strongly support both the overall formulation of romantic love and the more specific predictions derived from it. We conclude by discussing some implications of these results, with an emphasis on clinical ones, as well as some strengths and limitations of the present research.     

Associations Between Marital Meaning and Reasons to Delay Marriage for Young Adults in Romantic Relationships

Using symbolic interactionism we developed an open-ended question to examine marital meaning for young adults (N = 111). Themes to emerge were love and commitment. Participants were placed into clusters: contractual (low love, high commitment), optimistic-realistic (high love, high commitment), romanticizing (high love, low commitment), and casual (low love, low commitment). We examined marital meaning and associations with reasons to delay marriage, conceptualized as relational doubts and financial concerns. Optimistic-realistic and casual individuals reported fewer relational doubts than contractual individuals. Longer relationship length was associated with fewer financial concerns for optimistic-realistic individuals when compared with all others. We conclude that although love and commitment are central to marital meaning, for some, specific pairings of these themes have implications in understanding reasons young adults delay marrying.     

I Love You But I'm Not In Love with You*

This paper reports an investigation of the hypothesis that the meaning of love is different for different people. Six distinct concepts of love were isolated by using Smallest Space Analysis procedure. Ideal types of the six different styles of loving were constructed, following the work of Lee. The clinical implications of the findings were discussed, and a procedure for the management of cases involving incongruous concepts of love was proposed.     

Letter to the Editor: A reply to Klein and Stern

Klein and Stern (hereafter KS-2007) have several problems withour article ("Is the Academy a Liberal Hegemony"), with themost general being their contention that we "misrepresent" theirwork. Most of this hinges on their claim that, while they studiedthe proportion of faculty who register or vote Democratic orRepublican (their D:R ratio), we treated this as equivalentto a measure of liberalism versus conservatism. KS-2007 go onto say that we "impute ideological content" to their resultswhile they themselves claim the intellectual high road as havingbeen very careful not to conflate voting or party registrationwith     

Love,Marriage and the Division of Labor*

In this questionnaire study young engaged men and women were asked about the importance of love in marriage and the meaning of the concept “love.” Marital goals and criteria for mate choice were also explored. A highly consistent image of marriage as an institution in which to realize a comprehensive companionship with a partner of compatible temperament and life goals emerged. These findings have demonstrable implications for existing theoretical formulations concerning the dysfunctional aspects of the love marriage in contemporary American society in which it is contended that “romantic idealization” during courtship leads to a high incidence of dissatisfaction and disruption. Findings from numerous studies are assimilated to present an alternative explanation for marital conflict in the context of the modern division of labor in which the spheres of work and the family are poorly integrated, particularly in view of sharp role segregation by sex.     

High Commitment Management in the U.K.: Evidence from the Workplace Industrial Relations Survey, and Employers' Manpower and Skills Practices Survey

Are the practices widely associated with thehigh commitment or involvement model, such as jobflexibility and minimal status differences, actuallyused in conjunction with each other? Or rather are they being used, as some commentators speculate, ina fragmented or ad hoc manner? The authors use LatentVariable Analysis to assess whether practices identifiedwith high commitment management do form a unity. They are simultaneously attempting to see ifsuch practices can be used as indicators for measuringan underlying high commitment orientation on the part ofmanagement. The analysis uses data from the 1990 UK Workplace Industrial Relations Survey andits sister survey, the Employers' Manpower and SkillsPractices Survey, on the use of a range of highcommitment practices across the whole economy. Theevidence suggests that there is an identifiable patternto the use of high commitment practices. Fourprogressive styles of high commitment management (HCM)were discovered. Though the use of it in its entirety is still relatively rare in the UK, theproportion of organizations with medium levels of highcommitment management is higher than is perhaps commonlyassumed. High degrees of high commitment management are not necessarily associated with nonunionworkplaces. The research also demonstrates that HCM doeshave some performance effects, though they are notunique to it since those organizations that adopt high commitment management in its entirety donot perform better on any performance criteria than allothers, but they do perform better than sometypes.     

Children, spousal love, and happiness: an economic analysis

In this paper we examine how children affect happiness and relationships within a family by analyzing two unique questions in the National Longitudinal Study of Youth’s 1997 cohort. We find that (a) presence of children is associated with a loss of spousal love; (b) loss of spousal love is associated with loss of overall happiness; but (c) presence of children is not associated with significant loss of overall happiness. If children reduce feelings of being loved by the spouse but do not reduce reported happiness even though spousal love induces happiness, then it must be the case that children contribute to parental happiness by providing other benefits. After ruling out some competing compensation mechanisms we infer that loss of spousal love is compensated with altruistic feelings towards children.