The core American values of liberty, egalitarianism, and individualism have been shown to be in constant tension with one another. This project sought to address the current state of public opinion on liberty as a core American value. Several propositions related to liberty were addressed including opinion on liberty in the abstract versus concrete instances, policy areas in which liberty is most willing to be compromised, Americans' crime control orientations, and the idea that citizens are ambivalent when it comes to crime control versus due process. Data were collected via telephone interviews with citizens of Leon County, Florida. The findings of the study indicate that although citizens voice a preference for liberty in the abstract, they contradict themselves in concrete instances of liberty, namely in the area of social control. A public conscience and belief in the public good is projected until it interferes with individuals' own private property or private lives; then policy preferences err on the side of the individual. It is in these situations that ideology is compromised. Citizens are likely to experience underlying value conflict, which confounds their abilities to make decisive policy choices. / A Dissertation submitted to the College of Criminology and Criminal Justice in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of
Philosophy. / Summer Semester, 2006. / July 3, 2006. / Public Opinion, Liberty, Core Values, Social Control / Includes bibliographical references. / Marc Gertz, Professor Directing Dissertation; Colleen Kelley, Outside Committee Member; Ted Chiricos, Committee Member.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_181823 |
| Contributors | Jenks, Catherine A. (authoraut), Gertz, Marc (professor directing dissertation), Kelley, Colleen (outside committee member), Chiricos, Ted (committee member), College of Criminology and Criminal Justice (degree granting department), Florida State University (degree granting institution) |
| Publisher | Florida State University, Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, text |
| Format | 1 online resource, computer, application/pdf |
| Rights | This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s). The copyright in theses and dissertations completed at Florida State University is held by the students who author them. |
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