Attitudes, Conflict, and Social Change

Attitudes, Conflict, and Social Change is based on a symposium on attitudes, social change, and intergroup conflict conducted on the University of Maryland campus. The book focuses on the following interrelated topics and issues: (1) The concepts of "attitude" and "attitude change" as they are used in psychological, sociological, and political science research. (2) How people change their attitudes and behavior in response to technological change and broad social currents as well as to specific persuasive communications delivered via the mass media or within an organization or a small group. (3) The role of attitudes and their modification in social change. (4) The role of attitudes in the genesis, the processes, and the outcomes of intergroup conflict at the level of the organization, at different societal levels, and at the international level. (5) The perplexing problems involved in determining how attitudes and overt behavior relate to each other. (6) Relationships between theories of attitude change and action programs designed to change attitudes in various social, cultural, ethnic, and national groups. (7) Relationships between laboratory experiments and field research involving attitude change. (8) The directions that future attitude research might take in order to be most productive with respect to both theory development and applications.

Contenu

List of Contributors
Acknowledgments

1. Overview: Social Contexts and Issues for Contemporary Attitude Change Research
   The Current World Scene
   Modernization
   Attitudes toward Work and Leisure
   International Attitudes and Behavior
   Student Attitudes and Unrest
   Racial Conflict, Attitudes, and Economic Opportunity
   Differences among Disciplines
   Some Theoretical Considerations
   References
   Part One The Concept and Role of Attitudes
   
   2. Are Attitudes Necessary?
      References
   3. Stress, Self-Esteem, and Attitudes
      Psychological Stress
      Self-Esteem and Stress
      Stress and Attitude Change
      Communicator Credibility
      A Note on Research Strategy
      References
      Part Two Conformity and Conflict in Organizational Contexts
   4. Conflict and Change in the Universities
      Current Analyses of Student Unrest
      Toward a Heuristic Analysis of Student Unrest
      References
   5. The Tactics and Ethics of Persuasion
      Persuading for New Politics
      Machiavellian Strategies
      Making Machiavelli Work for Peace
      Postscript
      References
   6. Conflict Strategies Related to Organizational Theories and Management Systems
      Progress in Recent Centuries
      Progress Usually Starts in One Area of Human Activity
      The Nature of a Society is Reflected in Its Management of Conflict
      Quantitative Research Accelerates Development of Improved Social Systems
      A General Theory Based on Principles of the Best Managers
      Human Organizations Can Be Described Quantitatively
      Relation of Interaction-Influence Networks to Conflict Management
      Conflict Managed Best in Most Highly Developed Social System
      Obsolete Social Systems Used in Attempts to Resolve Conflict
      Effective Interaction-Influence Networks Absent in Communist China-United States Relationships
      Black-White Relationships Lack Effective Interaction-Influence Networks
      Large Universities Lack Effective Interaction-Influence Networks
      References
      Part Three Racial Attitudes and Social Change
   7. The Impact of Social Change on Attitudes
      References
   8. Mass Media and Social Change
      General Functions of the Media
      Nation Building
      Rising Aspirations and Deferred Gratification
      Personal Channels
      Modernized Areas
      Mirror versus Molder
      The Media and the Black Social Revolution
      Commentary
      References
   9. Contextual Models of School Desegregation
      Previous Relevant Ecological Research
      The Texas Ecological Model
      Attitude and School Desegregation
      Ecology, Attitudes, and Southern Desegregation
      Summary and Implications
      References
      Part Four Attitudes and International Social Change
   10. The Shuttle Box of Subsistence Attitudes
       The Philippine Setting
       Observed Behavior Patterns
       Peasants and Poverty
       Peasant Attitudes
       Some Attitudes of Rural Filipinos
       Changes in Attitudes
       An Interpretation
       Avoidance Learning
       References
   11. The Pro-Us Illusion and the Black-Top Image
       American Perception of the Soviet People
       Our Perception of the Cuban People
       Our Perception of the South Vietnamese People
       Reasons for the Pro-Us Illusion
       The Black-Top Image
       Reasons for the Combination
       References
       Author Index
       Subject Index