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The stories groups tell: campaign finance reform and the narrative networks of cultural cognition

Author

Listed:
  • Aaron Smith-Walter

    (University of Massachusetts Lowell)

  • Michael D. Jones

    (Oregon State University)

  • Elizabeth A. Shanahan

    (Montana State University)

  • Holly Peterson

    (University of South Alabama)

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to test whether groups with different cultural cognition orientations construct different stories about the same policy issue given the same information. We employed a focus group methodology to assemble participants with similar cultural dispositions and used the Narrative Policy Framework to examine the policy narratives that groups form about campaign finance. Our analyses indicate that the stories these homogeneous cultural groups tell associate political process concerns related to campaign finance to their core cultural values. Even when provided with the same information, the stories that the groups produced varied along theoretically consistent cultural dimensions. Our findings show the narrative cores displayed similar attribution of the problem to intentional human action; however we observed variation in the manner in which certain characters were assigned blame, and significant differences in the density of several of the narrative networks. We found that differences in presence of victims emerged along the grid dimension of cultural cognition with egalitarian narratives cores possessing victims, whereas hierarchist narratives did not. A difference that emerged along the group dimension of cultural cognition was the core narrative of individualist groups generated policy solutions, while communitarian narrative cores did not.

Suggested Citation

  • Aaron Smith-Walter & Michael D. Jones & Elizabeth A. Shanahan & Holly Peterson, 2020. "The stories groups tell: campaign finance reform and the narrative networks of cultural cognition," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 54(2), pages 645-684, April.
  • Handle: RePEc:spr:qualqt:v:54:y:2020:i:2:d:10.1007_s11135-019-00884-8
    DOI: 10.1007/s11135-019-00884-8
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Chad M. Zanocco & Michael D. Jones, 2018. "Cultural Worldviews and Political Process Preferences," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 99(4), pages 1377-1389, December.
    2. Paul D. Jorgensen & Geoboo Song & Michael D. Jones, 2018. "Public Support for Campaign Finance Reform: The Role of Policy Narratives, Cultural Predispositions, and Political Knowledge in Collective Policy Preference Formation," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 99(1), pages 216-230, March.
    3. Dan M. Kahan & Hank Jenkins-Smith & Donald Braman, 2011. "Cultural cognition of scientific consensus," Journal of Risk Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(2), pages 147-174, February.
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    Cited by:

    1. Parya Khandan & Hossein Rezaei, 2023. "A Strategic Attitude to Architectural Design with a Culture-Based Psychological Approach (Case Study: Public Spaces in Kermanshah)," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 57(3), pages 2383-2408, June.
    2. Camelia Florela Voinea & Martin Neumann & Klaus G. Troitzsch, 2023. "The State and the Citizen: Overview of a complex relationship from a paradigmatic perspective," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 57(1), pages 1-17, April.

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