[go: up one dir, main page]
IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/okl/wpaper/0802.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Socializing Interactions and Social Attitude Formation

Author

Listed:
  • Abdul Munasib

    (Oklahoma State University)

  • Devesh Roy

    (International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI))

Abstract
Social attitudes (beliefs) are increasingly being recognized as factors that are important in determination of the outcomes that interests economists. In the United States as Glaeser and Ward (2006) have shown, the differences in beliefs on social issues such as acceptability of legal abortion or homosexuality exhibit remarkable differences and vary widely across space. Ansolabehere et al. (2006) using the red state (republicans) blue state (democrat) distinction show that differences across these regions among voters was much more prominent in terms of moral (social) issues than economic issues in the 1970s and 1980s. What could explain the differences in beliefs across space? One possibility that can explain the observed patterns of distribution of social attitudes could be the effect of local socializing interactions. If the views of the people are conditioned mostly by those around them as Glaeser and Ward (2006) have argued then the observed patterns of social attitudes could be a result of the nature of socializing interactions. In this paper, we investigate the role of socializing interactions in determining socialattitudes in American communities. Using data on social attitudes and socializing interactions at the community level, we show that local interactions do affect the formation of social attitudes significantly. Moreover, the effect varies across the type of socializing interactions. Memberships in non-religious organizations and interaction with friends have an effect towards more libertarian social attitudes (agreeable to euthanasia, abortion, homosexuality and greater tolerance towards marginalized groups). Interactions with family have the opposite effect towards the formation of social attitudes. Our estimation uses a range of economic, social and demographic controls at the cluster level. We interpret our results drawing from the social psychology literature where the interactions that bring contacts with individuals with certain attributes (such as homosexuality) or with individuals with certain views about individual attributes (i.e. having a more favorable view about homosexuals) leads to more agreeable positions. The types of interactions differ in the possibilities that they contain in terms of allowing such contacts.

Suggested Citation

  • Abdul Munasib & Devesh Roy, 2008. "Socializing Interactions and Social Attitude Formation," Economics Working Paper Series 0802, Oklahoma State University, Department of Economics and Legal Studies in Business.
    • Handle: RePEc:okl:wpaper:0802
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://business.okstate.edu/site-files/docs/ecls-working-papers/0802_Munasib_SocAttitude.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Borghans, Lex & Weel, Bas ter & Weinberg, Bruce A., 2005. "People People: Social Capital and the Labor-Market - Outcomes of Underrepresented Groups," Research Memorandum 002, Maastricht University, Maastricht Economic Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    2. repec:bla:jecsur:v:14:y:2000:i:5:p:629-53 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Alberto Alesina & Eliana La Ferrara, 2000. "Participation in Heterogeneous Communities," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 115(3), pages 847-904.
    4. Helsley, Robert W. & Strange, William C., 1990. "Matching and agglomeration economies in a system of cities," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(2), pages 189-212, September.
    5. Guy Dumais & Glenn Ellison & Edward L. Glaeser, 2002. "Geographic Concentration As A Dynamic Process," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 84(2), pages 193-204, May.
    6. Edward L. Glaeser & Jose Scheinkman, 2000. "Non-Market Interactions," NBER Working Papers 8053, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Demange,Gabrielle & Wooders,Myrna (ed.), 2005. "Group Formation in Economics," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521842716, September.
    8. George J. Borjas, 2021. "Ethnic Capital And Intergenerational Mobility," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Foundational Essays in Immigration Economics, chapter 6, pages 107-134, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    9. Glaeser, Edward L., 1999. "Learning in Cities," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(2), pages 254-277, September.
    10. Edward L. Glaeser & David Laibson & Bruce Sacerdote, 2002. "An Economic Approach to Social Capital," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 112(483), pages 437-458, November.
    11. Partha Dasgupta, 2005. "Economics of Social Capital," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 81(s1), pages 2-21, August.
    12. Edward L. Glaeser & Bryce A. Ward, 2006. "Myths and Realities of American Political Geography," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 20(2), pages 119-144, Spring.
    13. Carter, Michael R. & Maluccio, John A., 2003. "Social Capital and Coping with Economic Shocks: An Analysis of Stunting of South African Children," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 31(7), pages 1147-1163, July.
    14. Stephen Ansolabehere & Jonathan Rodden & James M. Snyder Jr., 2006. "Purple America," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 20(2), pages 97-118, Spring.
    15. Borghans, Lex & Weel, Bas ter & Weinberg, Bruce A., 2005. "People People: Social Capital and the Labor-Market - Outcomes of Underrepresented Groups," Research Memorandum 002, Maastricht University, Maastricht Economic Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    16. Jan K. Brueckner, 2000. "Urban Sprawl: Diagnosis and Remedies," International Regional Science Review, , vol. 23(2), pages 160-171, April.
    17. Martin Paldam, 2000. "Social Capital: One or Many? Definition and Measurement," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 14(5), pages 629-653, December.
    18. Wade, Robert, 1988. "The management of irrigation systems: How to evoke trust and avoid prisoner's dilemma," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 16(4), pages 489-500, April.
    19. Michihiro Kandori, 1992. "Social Norms and Community Enforcement," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 59(1), pages 63-80.
    20. Dora L. Costa & Matthew E. Kahn, 2003. "Understanding the American Decline in Social Capital, 1952–1998," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 56(1), pages 17-46, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Abdul Munasib, 2007. "Social Capital at the Individual Level A Reduced Form Analysis," Economics Working Paper Series 0703, Oklahoma State University, Department of Economics and Legal Studies in Business.
    2. Yamamura, Eiji, 2008. "The role of social capital in homogeneous society: Review of recent researches in Japan," MPRA Paper 11385, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Diemer, Andreas, 2023. "Divided we fall? The effect of manufacturing decline on the social capital of US communities," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 120355, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    4. Yamamura, Eiji, 2011. "Comparison of the effects of homeownership by individuals and their neighbors on social capital formation: Evidence from Japanese General Social Surveys," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 40(5), pages 637-644.
    5. Jeffry Jacob & Abdul Munasib, 2020. "Do social networks promote homeownership?," International Review of Economics, Springer;Happiness Economics and Interpersonal Relations (HEIRS), vol. 67(2), pages 189-230, June.
    6. Lars Kunze & Nicolai Suppa, 2014. "Bowling Alone or Bowling at All? The Effect of Unemployment on Social Participation," Ruhr Economic Papers 0510, Rheinisch-Westfälisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Universität Dortmund, Universität Duisburg-Essen.
    7. Pritha Dev & Blessing U. Mberu & Roland Pongou, 2016. "Ethnic Inequality: Theory and Evidence from Formal Education in Nigeria," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 64(4), pages 603-660.
    8. Alberto Alesina & Eliana La Ferrara, 2003. "Ethnic Diversity and Economic Performance," Harvard Institute of Economic Research Working Papers 2028, Harvard - Institute of Economic Research.
    9. Kunze, Lars & Suppa, Nicolai, 2017. "Bowling alone or bowling at all? The effect of unemployment on social participation," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 213-235.
    10. Sabatini, Fabio, 2006. "The Empirics of Social Capital and Economic Development: A Critical Perspective," Knowledge, Technology, Human Capital Working Papers 12097, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM).
    11. Tiago Freire & Xiaoye Li, 2018. "How immigration reduced volunteering in the USA: 2005–2011," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 60(1), pages 119-141, January.
    12. Ferris, Stephen P. & Javakhadze, David & Rajkovic, Tijana, 2017. "CEO social capital, risk-taking and corporate policies," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 46-71.
    13. Kahn, Matthew E. & Walsh, Randall, 2015. "Cities and the Environment," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: Gilles Duranton & J. V. Henderson & William C. Strange (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 5, chapter 0, pages 405-465, Elsevier.
    14. Uwe Dulleck & Dirk J. Bezemer & Paul Frijters, 2004. "Social Capital, Creative Destruction and Economic Growth," Vienna Economics Papers 0406, University of Vienna, Department of Economics.
    15. repec:dau:papers:123456789/11437 is not listed on IDEAS
    16. Picard, Pierre M. & Toulemonde, Eric, 2004. "Endogenous qualifications and firms' agglomeration," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(3), pages 458-477, May.
    17. Boenisch, Peter & Schneider, Lutz, 2013. "The social capital legacy of communism-results from the Berlin Wall experiment," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 391-411.
    18. Yamamura, Eiji, 2012. "Social capital, household income, and preferences for income redistribution," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 28(4), pages 498-511.
    19. Dufhues, Thomas & Buchenrieder, Gertrud & Fischer, Isabel, 2006. "Social capital and rural development: literature review and current state of the art [Sozialkapital und ländliche Entwicklung: Literaturüberblick und gegenwärtiger Stand der Forschung]," IAMO Discussion Papers 96, Leibniz Institute of Agricultural Development in Transition Economies (IAMO).
    20. Dev, Pritha & Mberu, Blessing & Pongou, Roland, 2013. "Communitarianism, Oppositional Cultures, and Human Capital Contagion: Theory and Evidence from Formal versus Koranic Education," MPRA Paper 46234, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 15 Apr 2013.
    21. Cristina Cattaneo, 2016. "Opting in to Opt out? Emigration and Group Participation in Albania," International Migration Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(4), pages 1046-1075, December.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Social attitude; social networks; socializing interaction; contact hypothesis; sorting;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D85 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Network Formation
    • R - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics
    • R11 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Regional Economic Activity: Growth, Development, Environmental Issues, and Changes
    • Z13 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:okl:wpaper:0802. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Harounan Kazianga (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/sboksus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.