Browsing by Subject "Social norms"

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Civic Morality: Democracy and Social Good
    (Springer, 2023) Herzog, Patricia Snell
    This chapter reviews the concept of civic morality and its role in democracy. The first section defines civic morality, including what it is as well as what it is not. Simply stated, civic morality is the belief that one should engage in efforts to promote social and public goods along with actions intended to promote the wellbeing of others beyond the self. These are neither solely personal individual beliefs that are not publicly shared nor government prescribed public acts. Second, the chapter explains why civic morality matters. Importance includes its role in fostering a social lubricant to collective action, trust in people and social institutions, and democratic participation. The third section summarizes major approaches to the study of civic morality. Interdisciplinary studies are best categorized across the levels of their units of analysis: micro, meso, and macro. Key takeaways are offered based on the findings of existing studies about the relationship of civic morality and other important social phenomena. Reviewed findings are related to philanthropy and generosity, generational changes and youth, socioeconomic inequalities, religiosity and culture, and social norms.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Drinking and driving: a pilot study of subjective norms, attitudes and behaviors of German and American students
    (2014-11-13) Slagle, Bianca Annaliese; Goering, Elizabeth M.; Rhodes, Nancy; Shin, YoungJu
    Drinking and driving is increasingly becoming a detrimental behavior, especially amongst college-aged students in the U.S. and other countries. Additionally, research shows that college-age students in the U.S. are more likely to drink and drive, than college-age students in Germany. Fishbein and Ajzen’s Theory of Reasoned Action asserts that subjective norms and attitudes signify behavioral intentions. In order to test the TRA and understand the drinking and driving differences and similarities in the U.S. and Germany, focus groups of German and American college-age students were conducted to discuss subjective norms and attitudes surrounding drinking and driving behaviors, followed up by an electronic pilot study survey regarding same. The data collected illustrated that college-age drinking and driving is occurs more frequently in the U.S., and that American and German students differ in their attitudes and subjective norms surrounding drinking and driving. Future research would benefit the continued use and circulation of the electronic surveys for larger cross-cultural samples of college-age students to more effectively and quantitatively assess actual drinking and driving behaviors as it relates to subjective norms and attitudes, as suggested in the TRA.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Informing practice and sabotaging membership growth: an ideological rhetorical analysis of discursive materials from Kiwanis International
    (2015-08) Stokes, Tonja LaFaye; Dobris, Catherine A.; Parrish-Sprowl, John; Goering, Elizabeth M.
    This study utilizes an ideological rhetorical analysis, applying Marxist and Feminist lenses, to artifacts from Kiwanis International, a prominent global service organization. These artifacts are: "The Permanent Objects of Kiwanis," guiding principles that were codified in 1924; "The Man Who Was God": a brief story about transforming from Kiwanis member to "Kiwanian," published in 1935 and 1985, respectively; and the 2012 "Join the Club" Membership Brochure. The rhetoric of discursive materials is one of the most salient representations of group ideology. In turn, ideology, particularly when it reflects and perpetuates social hegemony, has a normalizing effect on itself. Ideology shapes identity; identity shapes strategies to set process norms that create social cohesion. Norms of social cohesion become culture; culture reinforces ideology. When these components mirror social hegemony and replicate hegemonic power, they create institutions, like service organizations; these institutions then legitimate and normalize positions of social privilege. Ultimately, ideology and social hegemony reveal themselves through organizational and member practices and organizationally-produced discursive material. The purpose of this study is to analyze the historical, socio-political, and socio-cultural roots of Kiwanis International in order to draw logical conclusions about the organization's ideology for the purposes of understanding how that ideology contributes to, justifies, and perpetuates an unconscious, neo-colonial view of philanthropy. Kiwanis International, on an organizational (macro) level and at the club/member (micro) level, is structured around positions of racial, ethnic, socio-economic, linguistic, gender, and religious privilege, and so mimics the hegemonic power centers and dominant ideologies of society at large. In turn, the products and practices of the organization reflect these positions of privilege and inhibits the organization's ability to attract traditionally excluded, disenfranchised, or under-represented groups. Understanding that it is a contentious and futile to simply point where power relations exist and assert themselves, this study emphasizes where "othering" occurs in hopes of mitigating relations of domination and oppression between Kiwanis members and perspective members, and of moving forward the interests of those who have not traditionally been counted among Kiwanis' members but whose presence could save the organization.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Self-efficacy and HPV Vaccine Attitudes Mediate the Relationship Between Social Norms and Intentions to Receive the HPV Vaccine Among College Students
    (SpringerLink, 2020-12) Stout, Madison E.; Christy, Sharon M.; Winger, Joseph G.; Vadaparampil, Susan T.; Mosher, Catherine E.; Psychology, School of Science
    Human papillomavirus (HPV) has been linked to genital warts and multiple cancers affecting both men and women. Despite college students’ high risk for HPV, their vaccination rates remain suboptimal. The current observational study examined the relationship between social norms and human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine intentions and potential mechanisms underlying this relationship among undergraduates. Participants (N=190; 66.8% female) completed a survey assessing HPV vaccine social norms, attitudes, self-efficacy, and intentions. Three mediation analyses were conducted to examine whether self-efficacy and attitudes mediated the relationship between social norms (i.e., parents, friends, doctor) and intentions, controlling for demographic and health care covariates. Social norms were indirectly related to intentions through self-efficacy and attitudes in multiple models (ps<.05). Specifically, perceiving greater support for HPV vaccination from one’s friends, parents, and doctor was related to greater HPV vaccine self-efficacy, which, in turn, was related to increased vaccine intentions. In addition, perceiving greater parental and doctor support for HPV vaccination was related to more favorable attitudes towards the vaccine, which, in turn, were related to increased vaccine intentions. Findings suggest potential targets for future interventions to promote HPV vaccination among young adults.