Making Sense of Public Opinion
American Discourses about Immigration and Social Programs

This book proposes that Americans form views on immigration and social welfare programs from conventional ways of speaking rather than from ideologies.

Claudia Strauss (Author)

9781107019928, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 15 October 2012

439 pages, 14 b/w illus. 11 tables
23.5 x 15.7 x 3.1 cm, 0.7 kg

'Scholars, pundits, and politicians have tried for decades to understand how people come to hold political opinions and preferences, why different people hold distinct views, and whether such views can be changed. I thought that I had read every conceivable explanation - ranging from deeply felt ideologies to apparently trivial variations in surveys' question wording, and everything in between. But here is an innovative and exciting explanation; Claudia Strauss's conception of conventional discourses cuts through an amazing amount of chatter and gives a new perspective on what citizens say, believe, and fear.' Jennifer Hochschild, Harvard University

Questions about immigration and social welfare programs raise the central issues of who belongs to a society and what its members deserve. Yet the opinions of the American public about these important issues seem contradictory and confused. Claudia Strauss explains why: public opinion on these issues and many others is formed not from liberal or conservative ideologies but from diverse vernacular discourses that may not fit standard ideologies but are easy to remember and repeat. Drawing on interviews with people from various backgrounds, Strauss identifies and describes 59 conventional discourses about immigration and social welfare and demonstrates how we acquire conventional discourses from our opinion communities. Making Sense of Public Opinion: American Discourses about Immigration and Social Programs explains what conventional discourses are, how to study them, and why they are fundamental elements of public opinion and political culture.

Part I. Overview: 1. Conventional discourses, public opinion, and political culture
2. Analysis of conventional discourses: backgrounds and methods
3. Conventional discourses and personal lives
Part II. Immigration: 4. Public opinion about immigration
5. 'Too many immigrants' and discourses about economic costs and benefits
6. Discourses about legality, illegality, and national security
7. Discourses about immigration and American culture
8. Discourses about immigration causes and contexts
Part III. Social Welfare Programs: 9. Public opinion about social welfare programs
10. Discourses about limitations of government programs
11. Discourses about personal responsibility and benefits for the deserving
12. Discourses about caring for self, family, community, and nation
13. Discourses about social causes of economic insecurity
Part IV. Conclusion: 14. Questions and implications.

Subject Areas: Political science & theory [JPA], Social & cultural anthropology, ethnography [JHMC], Social research & statistics [JHBC], Migration, immigration & emigration [JFFN]