Cover -- Making Sense of Public Opinion: American Discourses About Immigration and Social Programs -- Title -- Copyright -- Dedication -- Contents -- Figures and Tables -- Transcription Conventions -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- PART I OVERVIEW -- 1 Conventional Discourses, Public Opinion, and Political Culture -- HOW AMERICANS TALK ABOUT IMMIGRATION AND SOCIAL PROVISION -- WHAT ARE CONVENTIONAL DISCOURSES? -- MYSTERIES OF OPINION -- POLITICAL CULTURE -- ORGANIZATION AND LARGER GOALS -- 2 Analysis of Conventional Discourses: Background and Methods -- AN OFT-REPEATED, SHARED SCHEMA -- CONVENTIONAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS METHODS: DRAWING UP THE LIST -- Issue 1: No Conventional Discourses on the Topic in an Opinion Community -- Issue 2: Comments That Are Not from a Conventional Discourse -- Issue 3: Similar Attitudes on a Topic Do Not Necessarily Indicate a Shared Conventional Discourse -- Issue 4: Shared Keywords Are Neither Necessary nor Sufficient as Indicators of a Shared Discourse -- Issue 5: A Conventional Discourse Expresses a Particular Social Identity -- Issue 6: People on Opposite Sides of an Issue Can Use the Same Discourse -- Issue 7: Decisions About When to Lump and When to Split Also Depend on the Analyst's Purposes -- Issue 8: What Considerations Go into Choosing a Name for a Discourse? -- SUMMARY -- 3 Conventional Discourses and Personal Lives -- DO PEOPLE JUST PASSIVELY ABSORB CONVENTIONAL DISCOURSES? ACQUIRING, INTERPRETING, AND BECOMING INVESTED IN DISCOURSES -- People Are Influenced by Discourses in Their Opinion Communities -- But People Are Selective Among Discourses -- People Select Among Discourses on the Basis of Their Identities, Self-Interest, and Other Beliefs -- People Interpret the Same Discourse Differently -- People Differ in Their Investment in a Discourse.

Discourses, Opinion Communities, Identities, Formative Experiences, and Self-Interest Interact -- Multiplicity of Discourses -- How People Deal with Heterogeneous Conventional Discourses -- Compartmentalized Discourses -- True Ambivalence -- Integration -- HOW OPINIONS ARE CONSTRUCTED -- CONCLUDING THOUGHTS -- PART II IMMIGRATION -- 4 Public Opinion About Immigration -- EXPLANATIONS OF PUBLIC OPINION IN THE SCHOLARLY LITERATURE -- CONVENTIONAL DISCOURSES AND AMERICAN PUBLIC OPINION ABOUT IMMIGRATION -- Heterogeneous Discourses -- NONCONFORMING DISCOURSES -- SUMMARY -- 5 "Too Many Immigrants" and Discourses About Economic Costs and Benefits -- TOO MANY IMMIGRANTS DISCOURSE -- FOREIGNERS TAKING OUR JOBS DISCOURSE -- HELP OUR OWN FIRST DISCOURSE -- BENEFITS FOR CONTRIBUTORS DISCOURSE -- JOBS AMERICANS DON'T WANT DISCOURSE -- IMMIGRANTS' WORK ETHIC DISCOURSE -- FREE MARKET DISCOURSE -- 6 Discourses About Legality, Illegality, and National Security -- ILLEGAL IS WRONG DISCOURSE -- NATIONAL SECURITY DISCOURSE -- COMPREHENSIVE REFORM DISCOURSE -- 7 Discourses About Immigration and American Culture -- SPEAK ENGLISH AND ASSIMILATE DISCOURSE -- NATIONAL SYMBOLS DISCOURSE -- RACIAL DIFFERENCES/CULTURAL INFERIORITY DISCOURSE -- NATION OF IMMIGRANTS DISCOURSE -- LAND OF OPPORTUNITY DISCOURSE -- CULTURAL DIVERSITY DISCOURSE -- GOOD PEOPLE AS INDIVIDUALS DISCOURSE -- GETTING ALONG DISCOURSE -- EQUAL RIGHTS DISCOURSE -- HUMANITARIAN DISCOURSE -- 8 Discourses About Immigration Causes and Contexts -- EMPLOYERS TAKING ADVANTAGE DISCOURSE -- FIX SENDING COUNTRIES DISCOURSE -- ANTI-NEOLIBERALISM/ANTI-IMPERIALISM DISCOURSE -- POSTNATIONALISM DISCOURSE -- PART III SOCIAL WELFARE PROGRAMS -- 9 Public Opinion About Social Welfare Programs -- MIXED AMERICAN PUBLIC OPINION ABOUT SOCIAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS -- PREVIOUS RESEARCH ON MIXED VIEWS ABOUT SOCIAL ASSISTANCE.

FROM STANDARD IDEOLOGIES TO VERNACULAR DISCOURSES -- SUMMARY -- 10 Discourses About Limitations of Government Programs -- FREE MARKET DISCOURSE -- NECESSARY INEQUALITY DISCOURSE -- GOVERNMENT INEFFICIENCY DISCOURSE -- FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY DISCOURSE -- GOVERNMENT INTRUSION DISCOURSE -- ANTITAX DISCOURSE -- 11 Discourses About Personal Responsibility and Benefits for the Deserving -- LAND OF OPPORTUNITY DISCOURSE -- PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY DISCOURSE -- WORK ETHIC DISCOURSE -- SELF-RELIANCE DISCOURSE -- SPENDING VERSUS SAVING DISCOURSE -- BENEFITS ONLY FOR CONTRIBUTORS DISCOURSE -- WELFARE ABUSE DISCOURSE -- UNWED MOTHERS AND DEADBEAT DADS DISCOURSE -- INCAPACITY EXCEPTION TO SELF-RELIANCE DISCOURSE -- HELP PEOPLE BE SELF-RELIANT DISCOURSE -- WORK SHOULD BE REWARDED DISCOURSE -- CONTRIBUTORS DESERVE BENEFITS DISCOURSE -- 12 Discourses About Caring for Self, Family, Community, and Nation -- QUALITY OF LIFE DISCOURSE -- THE DOLLAR VERSUS GOOD VALUES DISCOURSE -- CARING FOR FAMILY AND COMMUNITY DISCOURSE -- POVERTY AND CRIME DISCOURSE -- SOCIAL INVESTMENT DISCOURSE -- CORPORATE SOCIAL INVESTMENT DISCOURSE -- PROVIDING AMERICANS' BASIC NEEDS DISCOURSE -- TAXES AND CITIZENSHIP DISCOURSE -- 13 Discourses About Social Causes of Economic Insecurity -- LOW SELF-ESTEEM DISCOURSE -- NEGATIVE ROLE MODELS DISCOURSE -- EDUCATION AND OPPORTUNITY DISCOURSE -- EQUAL RIGHTS DISCOURSE -- WEALTH, CONNECTIONS, AND OTHER ADVANTAGES DISCOURSES -- FEWER OPPORTUNITIES DISCOURSE -- POLITICIANS DON'T CARE ABOUT THE AVERAGE PERSON DISCOURSE -- GREED OF CORPORATIONS AND THE RICH DISCOURSE -- ANTI-CORPORATE-CAPITALISM DISCOURSE -- PART IV CONCLUSION -- 14 Questions and Implications -- FOUNDATIONAL ISSUES -- SUGGESTIONS FOR FUTURE STUDY -- IMPLICATIONS FOR RESEARCH ON OPINIONS -- IMPLICATIONS FOR ADVOCACY AND DIALOGUE -- Appendix A: North Carolina Interviewes.

Appendix B: Methods of Data Collection -- FIRST INTERVIEW, 2000 -- SECOND INTERVIEW, 2000 -- FOLLOW-UP INTERVIEW, 2005 -- Appendix C: Mexican American Discourses and the Theroy of Divergence -- DISCOURSES ABOUT IMMIGRATION -- DISCOURSES ABOUT SOCIAL WELFARE PROGRAMS -- CONCLUSIONS -- References Cited -- Author Index -- Subject Index.

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

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2018. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.