2016/02/15 Andreas Jungherr

Syllabus: Explaining Political Behavior and Attitudes through Political Psychology

For this spring semester, I designed a new course introducing students to the use of concepts from political psychology and political sociology in explaining political behavior and attitudes. The course is a mix of theory and practical exercises.

In the first part of the course, students are introduced to a selection of central concepts and their operationalization in publicly available data sets from the USA and Germany like the American National Election Studies (ANES) and German Longitudinal Election Studies (GLES). In the second part, students are asked to use these concepts and datasets in individual research projects. The aim of the course is to introduce students to translating theoretical concepts into operationalizations and examine them through simple data analyses. Here is the syllabus.

Readings:

Background Readings:
Basbøll, T. Research as a Second Language.
Berinsky, A. J. (Ed.). 2016. New Directions in Public Opinion. 2nd ed. New York, NY: Routledge.
Clawson, R. A. & Z. M. Oxley. 2013. Public Opinion: Democratic Ideals, Democratic Practice. 2nd ed. Los Angeles, CA: Sage.
Cottam, M. K., E. Mastors, T. Preston, & B. Dietz. 2015. Introduction to Political Psychology. 3rd ed. New York, NY: Routledge.
Kabacoff, R. I. R in Action: Data Analysis and Graphics with R. 2nd ed. Shelter Island, NY:
Manning.
Kaplan, D. T. (2012). Statistical Modeling: A Fresh Approach. 2nd ed. Project MOSAIC.

Ideology
Federico, C. M. 2016. The Structure, Foundations, and Expression of Ideology. In: A. J. Berinsky (Ed.). New Directions in Public Opinion. 2nd ed. New York, NY: Routledge (pp. 81-103).
Federico, C. M. & C. V. Hunt. 2013. Political Information, Political Involvement, and Reliance on Ideology in Political Evaluation. Political Behavior 35(1): 89-112.
Neundorf, A. 2011. Die Links-Rechts-Dimension auf dem Prüfstand: Ideologisches Wählen in Ost- und Westdeutschland 1990-2008. In: R. Schmitt-Beck (Ed.). Politische Vierteljahresschrift Sonderheft 45: Wählen in Deutschland. Baden-Baden: Nomos (S. 234-257).

Race
Czaja, E., J. Junn, & T. Mendelberg. 2016. Race, Ethnicity, and the Group Bases of Public Opinion. In: A. J. Berinsky (Ed.). New Directions in Public Opinion. 2nd ed. New York, NY: Routledge (pp. 104-123).
Lee, T. 2008. Race, Immigration, and the Identity-to-Politics Link. Annual Review of Political
Science 11: 457-478.
Wüst, A. M. 2011. Dauerhaft oder temporär? Zur Bedeutung des Migrationshintergrunds für Wahlbeteiligung und Parteiwahl bei der Bundestagswahl 2009. In: R. Schmitt-Beck (Ed.). Politische Vierteljahresschrift Sonderheft 45: Wählen in Deutschland. Baden-Baden: Nomos (S. 164-185).

Gender
Burns, N., A. E. Jardina, D. Kinder, & M. E. Reynolds. 2016. The Politics of Gender. In: A. J. Berinsky (Ed.). New Directions in Public Opinion. 2nd ed. New York, NY: Routledge (pp. 124-145).
Box-Steffensmeier, J. M., S. de Boeff, & T. M. Lin. 2004. The Dynamics of the Partisan Gender Gap. American Political Science Review 98(3): 515-528.
Giger, N. & S. Huber. 2015. Der Einfluss des Geschlechts auf Kandidatenbeurteilungen: Eine experimentelle Studie zu Kontexteffekten und individuellen Faktoren in Deutschland. In: T. Faas, C. Frank, & H. Schoen (Eds.). Politische Vierteljahresschrift Sonderheft 50: Politische Psychologie. Baden-Baden: Nomos (S. 333-359).

Political Partisanship
Hetherington, M. 2016. Partisanship and Polarization in Contemporary Politics. In: A. J. Berinsky (Ed.). New Directions in Public Opinion. 2nd ed. New York, NY: Routledge (pp. 146-164).
Carsey, T. M. & G. C. Layman. 2006. Changing Sides or Changing Minds? Party Identification and Policy Preferences in the American Electorate. American Journal of Political Science 50(2): 464-477.
Neundorf, A., D. Stegmueller, & T. J. Scotto. 2011. The Individual-Level Dynamics of Bounded Partisanship. Public Opinion Quarterly 75(3): 458-482.

Personality
Mondak, J. J. & M. V. Hibbing. 2016. Personality and Public Opinion. In: A. J. Berinsky (Ed.). New
Directions in Public Opinion. 2nd ed. New York, NY: Routledge (pp. 165-185).
Gerber, A. S., G. A. Huber, D. Doherty, C. M. Dowling, C. Raso, & S. E. Ha. 2011. Personality Traits and Participation in Political Processes. The Journal of Politics 73(3): 692-706.
Schoen, H. & M. Steinbrecher. 2013. Beyond Total Effects: Exploring the Interplay of Personality and Attitudes in Affecting Turnout in the 2009 German Federal Election. Political Psychology 34(4): 533-552.

Religion
Campbell, D. E., G. C. Layman, & J. C. Green. 2016. A Jump to the Right, A Step to the Left: Religion and Public Opinion. In: A. J. Berinsky (Ed.). New Directions in Public Opinion. 2nd ed. New York, NY: Routledge (pp. 232-257).
Barker, D. C. & C. J. Charman. 2000. The Spirit of Capitalism? Religious Doctrine, Values, and Economic Attitude Constructs. Political Behavior 22(1): 1-27.
Roßteutscher, S. 2011. Die konfessionell-religiöse Konfliktlinie zwischen Säkularisierung und Mobilisierung. In: R. Schmitt-Beck (Ed.). Politische Vierteljahresschrift Sonderheft 45: Wählen in Deutschland. Baden-Baden: Nomos (S. 118-140).

Group Identity
Abdelal, R., Y. M. Herrera, A. I. Johnston, & R. McDemott. 2009. Identity as a Variable. In: R. Abdelal, Y. M. Herrera, A. I. Johnston, & R. McDemott (Eds.). Measuring Identity: A Guide for Social Scientists. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press (17-32).
Sylvan, D. A. & A. K. Metskas. 2009. Trade-offs in Measuring Identities: A Comparison of Five Approaches. In: R. Abdelal, Y. M. Herrera, A. I. Johnston, & R. McDemott (Eds.). Measuring Identity: A Guide for Social Scientists. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press (72-109).
McClain, P. D., J. D. Johnson Carew, E. Walton, Jr., & C. S. Watts. 2009. Group Membership, Group Identity, and Group Consciousness: Measures of Racial Identity in American Politics? Annual Review of Political Science 12: 471-485.

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