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dc.contributor.advisorSmith, David
dc.contributor.advisorO'Brien, Joci
dc.contributor.authorCapps, Jason Scott
dc.date.accessioned2011-01-03T02:31:41Z
dc.date.available2011-01-03T02:31:41Z
dc.date.issued2010-07-28
dc.date.submitted2010
dc.identifier.otherhttp://dissertations.umi.com/ku:11074
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1808/6977
dc.description.abstractCollateral Damage in Iraq and Capital Punishment in the U.S.: How the Public Makes Sense of Extreme Violence and Death This dissertation investigates the tendencies, attitudes, beliefs, ideologies, and narratives that citizens in the Pacific Northwest have in regard to innocent loss of life in war and in the American criminal justice system. The project serves as a frontal analysis of recent scholarship regarding attitudes toward casualty tolerance by political scientists Peter Feaver, Chris Gelpi, and Jason Reifler (FGR). FGR focus on debunking the `myth' that the American public is `casualty phobic' and suffers from the `Vietnam syndrome.' FGR's research focuses heavily on American soldier casualties, whereas my project shines a light on gauging public opinion on the deaths of innocent civilians in wars. I argue that their model of predicting casualty tolerance--based solely on the use of survey data--is woefully inept and lacks important contributions from social psychology, sociology and personality theories in fostering a deeper understanding of explaining varying levels of casualty tolerance by individuals who are attitudinally ambivalent. I also extend the definition of collateral damage to include innocent loss of life in the criminal justice system by individuals put to death for crimes not committed. The study implores two methods, surveys and in-depth interviews, in order to better understand attitudes toward `collateral damage' or innocent loss of life. Three new survey scales are introduced: a 14-item `Collateral Damage Tolerance Scale for War' (CDTSW), a 10-item `Collateral Damage Tolerance Scale for Death Penalty' (CDTSDP), and a 15-item Islamophobia Scale. In contemporary American politics the importance of the swing voter cannot be overstated. This study gives primacy to understanding in a more direct way what middle-scores think about innocent loss of life in war and in the criminal justice system. The foundation of the study is a Frankfurt School approach that highlights the following: individual differences are real and far-reaching, that personality has psychodynamic roots, and that variations in psycho-cultural experience (in early childhood, in the family, in the workplace) produce major variations in attitudes and character structure. The survey results indicate the power of authoritarianism (RWA), social dominance orientation (SDO), incidences of corporal punishment, and Islamophobia as strong predictors of more or less tolerance of innocent loss of life in war. In regard to collateral damage in the use of the death penalty four variables proved to be central: RWA, SDO, views toward the nature of God, and approval/disapproval of capital punishment. The interview data confirm predicted responses from high and low scoring individuals toward more or less tolerance of collateral damage. As for middle scorers the following themes emerged as contributors to more or less tolerance: perceived threat of terrorism, being informed or uninformed about current events like war and the criminal justice system, the degree to which middle scorers buy in to the master narratives or national stories regarding justifications for collateral damage, and ability of middles to formulate and articulate counter narratives. The continued relevancy of Erich Fromm is discussed as well as a pitch for a renaissance of his social-psychological analytical approach to studies of casualty tolerance.
dc.format.extent243 pages
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherUniversity of Kansas
dc.rightsThis item is protected by copyright and unless otherwise specified the copyright of this thesis/dissertation is held by the author.
dc.subjectSociology
dc.subjectSocial research
dc.subjectAttitudinal ambivalence
dc.subjectCollateral damage
dc.subjectFromm, Erich
dc.subjectRight-wing authoritarianism
dc.subjectSocial dominance
dc.titleCollateral Damage In Iraq and Capital Punishment in the U.S.: How the Public Makes Sense of Extreme Violence and Death
dc.typeDissertation
dc.contributor.cmtememberAntonio, Robert J.
dc.contributor.cmtememberDonovan, Brian
dc.contributor.cmtememberHanley, Eric
dc.contributor.cmtememberFrey, Bruce
dc.thesis.degreeDisciplineSociology
dc.thesis.degreeLevelPh.D.
kusw.oastatusna
kusw.oapolicyThis item does not meet KU Open Access policy criteria.
kusw.bibid7642664
dc.rights.accessrightsopenAccess


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