To test the generalizability of the theory of aversive prejudice in predicting discrimination against gay men, a partial replication of Dovidio and Gaertner's (2000) experiment was conducted. Two hundred and five White undergraduate students from a Midwestern university evaluated an ostensible applicant for a counseling position. The current study was a 2 (Applicant Sexual Orientation: gay, straight) x 2 (Applicant Race: Black, White) x 2 (Applicant Qualification: high, moderate) x 2 (Participant Gender) between-groups experiment. Men provided straight applicants with significantly higher qualification ratings than gay applicants. Gay applicants were perceived as less competent on leadership than straight applicants. A gay Black applicant was least likely to be recommended for the position only when he was ambiguously (moderately) qualified, compared to straight White, straight Black, and gay White applicants. Limitations, implications, and directions for future research are discussed. / Department of Psychological Science

Thesis (M.A. in Security Studies (Defense Decision-Making and Planning)--Naval Postgraduate School, Sept. 2004. / Thesis advisor(s): Jeffrey Knopf. Includes bibliographical references (p. 59-65, 67-76). Also available online.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1996. / Typescript. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 308-317).

No description available.

Stories abound within our culture, and rarely are stories bestowed more legitimacy than within the courts. Social "facts" might be established within the legal forum, but nonetheless connect to everyday life. Research in social movements and judicial politics is thus becoming increasingly useful as social movement organizations increasingly compete before the Court to effect cultural change through the reification of their stories. Lesbian, gay and bisexuals form one group of storytellers whose "collective stories" are told. It is this set of stories that this paper investigates, following the "narrative turn" in sociology to analyze LGB social movement narratives in the empirical setting of the Supreme Court. I present the findings of my content analysis of the amicus curiae, or "friend of the Court," briefs and Court opinions in the Bowers v. Hardwick and Lawrence and Garner v. Texas cases, two of the most significant LGB rights cases, covering a span of nearly twenty years. Despite virtually identical casefacts, the Court handed down differing decisions, first ruling against the social movement before later reversing its decision. This research assesses how the narrative voices in the cases changed within the discourse of the Court, and how these collective narratives resonated within a changing culture. First, I assess how LGB social movement organizations, their allies, and countermovement organizations changed their framings and frame alignment processes, how they changed their emotions work and rhetoric, and how these changes were evidence of organizations' identity work processes during the interim between cases. Next, I assess changes in framings and frame alignment processes and emotions work and rhetoric within the opinions handed down by the Court. This serves two purposes: it allows for a comparison of organizational frame resonance with the Court, and also allows analysis of the decisions' resonance within the larger culture. Analysis is also made of the symbolic meanings found within the opinions of the Court in both cases. This analysis shows that LGB social movement and countermovement organizations operate within a cultural code of sexuality. Narratives are useful in observing how norms within this cultural code are enforced, strengthened, or changed by negotiation and legitimization before the Court. Consequently, this research contributes not only to our understandings of cultural change, but also to social movement theory, especially of identity work processes, to the field of social psychology, to the sociology of sexualities, and to the sociology of emotions and emotions work.

I examined whether expressing minority opinions enhances self-concept clarity and whether need for uniqueness (NfU) moderates this predicted relationship. I used an experimental survey with a 2 (Pre-existing Position: opposed, in favor) × 2 (Majority Position: opposed, in favor) × 2 (Participant Action: resist, conform) design. Participants identified themselves as primarily for or against granting legal rights to homosexuals and completed an NfU measure. Participants were then randomly assigned to read that the majority of MSU students either oppose or support granting legal rights to homosexuals. After reading arguments consistent with the majority position, participants were asked to offer arguments that either supported or refuted the majority. Contrary to hypotheses, arguing the minority position did not enhance self-concept clarity. Anti-gay rights participants were higher in self-concept clarity than pro-gay rights participants, and they became even higher in self-concept clarity when arguing with an opposed majority than when arguing against one.

The gay rights movement has been very active on social media throughout the years. Using a trend analysis this study aimed to answer how social media is being used during a social movement, how a social movement evolves on social media, and how social media is being used by organizations as a public relations strategy to create change in social movements. Overall, the findings revealed 11 different ways social media is being used during a social movement, which shows how important opinion leaders are in helping a social movement gain traction and create the desired impact.

We examined how social norms and confrontations by targets of prejudice influence opinions of gay rights. During an experimental discussion participants were assigned to a 2 (Target: gay target present vs. Christian non-target present) x 2 (Social Support: no group support vs. support from 3 confederates) design. Dependent variables included participants’ public votes on gay rights policies, private post-discussion attitudes, and post-discussion reactions toward the discussion. Results showed that participants exposed to a group showed greater public endorsement of gay-rights than those interacting with the target alone. Gay targets facilitated greater public advocacy for gay rights than Christian targets, despite reporting more negative reactions post-discussion. Overall, participants became more pro-gay rights after the discussion, regardless of condition. These results support the role of social norms in reducing prejudice but also suggest that, contrary to the self-interest rule, targets of prejudice may garner greater support by standing up for their rights.

No description available.

To the extent that the United States is a post-industrial society, whereby the means and ends of social production are social, and the production and reproduction of knowledge are shaped by reflexivity and continuous reconceptualizations of reality, what it means to be "tolerant" has been subjected to multiple ideologies. Supposedly freed from collectively imposed identities, social scientists have argued that in a postmodern society, individuals actively construct their own identities. In this study, it is questioned how multiple, trans-class and trans-disciplinary identities affect beliefs and behavior. Subject to exploration are expressions of tolerance, embodied as the expression of attitudes toward the following groups of traditionally nonconforming individuals: atheists, communists, racists and homosexuals. Using 1993 General Social Survey data, independent attitudinal variables were constructed from indexed items measuring opinions about ideas embraced by three "new" social movements: the women's, environmental and gay rights' movements. Socio-structural and attitudinal variables were regressed on tolerance, the dependent variable, which was divided into general and group-specific indexes. Education and urbanism were shown to be significant predictors of tolerance, while gender and political ideology were not significant predictors of tolerance. Positive correlations resulted between general tolerance and pro-feminist, pro-environmentalist and pro-gay rights attitudes. In conclusion, the prediction that individuals scoring high on measurements of feminism, environmentalism and pro-homosexuality, which all expound ideological convictions that refute traditional norms and value systems, would also demonstrate high levels of tolerance was greatly substantiated. Lending support for Bobo and Licari's (1989) argument, it is agreed that demographic, or social structural, variables alone are insufficient determinants of tolerance. Furthermore, although new social movements are chiefly organized around identity, rather than class, issues, even historically "tolerant" individuals, such as feminists, were shown to be less tolerant of certain groups, such as, in this study, racists / Master of Science