Blame and Political Attitudes: The Psychology of America's Culture War

188 Pages·2023·3.02 MB·English

by  Gail Sahar

BLAM E
AND
POLITICAL
ATTITUDES
THE PSYCHOLOGY OF
AMERICA’S CULTURE WAR
GAIL SAHAR
Blame and Political Attitudes
Gail Sahar
Blame and Political
Attitudes
The Psychology of America’s
Culture War
Gail Sahar
Psychology
Wheaton College - Massachusetts
Norton, MA, USA
ISBN 978-3-031-20235-3 ISBN 978-3-031-20236-0 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-20236-0
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature
Switzerland AG 2023
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To Lily and Jean-Luc
Acknowledgments
This book would certainly not have been written were it not for the sup-
port of many people. My brilliant husband, Jean-Luc Solère, has encour-
aged me since the idea for a book on blame first popped into my head.
He has read every word here, more than once, and has provided excellent
suggestions on the ideas and the writing, not to mention his full moral
support. My daughter Lily Sahar Zucker, an excellent writer herself, has
given me useful advice about the writing process and has encouraged me
in my lowest moments along the way. I cannot describe how lucky I am
to be the parent of such an amazing person, without whom, my life
would be poorer in every way. A shout-out to my extended Palestinian-
American family, who have inspired me, provided shoulders to cry on
when needed, and kept me laughing the rest of the time.
A major inspiration for this book was my graduate advisor and men-
tor, Bernard Weiner. There are those people who come along and change
your life; he was one of them for me. I thank my lucky stars that I indi-
cated an interest in attribution theory when I applied to UCLA. He not
only guided me, a somewhat underprepared graduate student, through
the trials and tribulations of becoming a scholar and earning a PhD, but
he further taught me, by example, how to be a good teacher and a mentor
to students. I use the lessons I’ve learned from him every day. I am grate-
ful to David Sears, also at UCLA, for fostering my interest in political
psychology. Karol Dean and Kaori Karasawa, formerly fellow graduate
vii
viii Acknowledgments
students, have been not only wonderful academic colleagues with whom
I could discuss my work but also dear lifelong friends.
I am grateful for the support of a number of colleagues at Wheaton
College in Massachusetts , where I have been fortunate to spend my aca-
demic career. At the very beginning, there was the Wheaton College
Faculty Writing Group, the members of which read early drafts of the
first few chapters. Thank you, Francisco (Fran) Fernández de Alba, Touba
Ghadessi, James Mulholland, and Rolf Nelson. Their thoughts on this
project were invaluable, and their comradery was truly wonderful. Thanks
also to Fran for suggesting Palgrave to me.
My psychology department colleague Bianca Cody Murphy gave me
excellent advice about drafts of several chapters and encouragement
throughout. Many close colleagues and friends at Wheaton have helped
me along in one way or another. Thanks especially to Tripp Evans for his
great advice about the book writing and publishing process. His intellect
and kindness are beyond compare, and our shared goofy, irreverent sense
of humor has kept me going through thick and thin. Charlotte Meehan,
Srijana Shrestha, and Gabriela Torres have provided much needed
encouragement and support as well as feedback on my writing; they
always seemed to know when to check in to see how I was doing. I am
grateful to Wheaton for the endowed chair that helped me find the time
to complete this book. Thank you to our former provost, Renée White,
for her support and for being awesome.
I have been inspired by too many Wheaton students to name; thank
you for the privilege and the joy of being your teacher. A special thanks
goes to Joshua Roberge for his able research assistance.
I thank Beth Farrow at Palgrave for seeing promise in this project and
helping me navigate the book publishing process, along with Editorial
Assistant Paige Ripperger. Without your expert guidance, there would be
no book. Finally, I am indebted to the anonymous reviewers of the man-
uscript whose thoughtful comments greatly improved it. Thank you for
giving your time so generously to help make this a better book.
Contents
1 Blame: A Social-Psychological Perspective 1
2 E conomic Issues 27
3 I ssues of Sexuality 47
4 R acial Issues 73
5 I ssues of Violence 95
6 Blame in the Age of Donald Trump 119
7 Blame, Ideology, and Reason for Hope 151
I ndex 175
ix
List of Figures
Fig. 1.1 Basic attributional model linking perceived cause with blame,
emotion, and behavior 5
Fig. 2.1 The 13 causes of poverty divided by type. (From Zucker,
G.S. (nee Sahar) & Weiner, B. (1993). Conservatism and
perceptions of poverty: An attributional analysis. Journal of
Applied Social Psychology, 23, 925–943) 31
Fig. 2.2 Expanded attributional model with worldview and attitude 33
Fig. 3.1 The 11 causes of unwanted pregnancy divided by type. (From
Zucker, G.S. (nee Sahar) (1999). Attributional and symbolic
predictors of abortion attitudes. Journal of Applied Social
Psychology, 29, 1218–1256) 50
Fig. 3.2 Full attributional model with worldview and attitude 52
Fig. 5.1 The ten causes of the 9/11 attacks divided by type. (From
Sahar, G. (2008). Patriotism and attributions for the 9/11
attacks: Then and now. Basic and Applied Social Psychology,
30, 1–9) 97
xi
1
Blame: A Social-Psychological
Perspective
It would be difficult to overstate the importance of blame in American
society. It seems to be a national obsession.
Who was to blame for the 2007 economic crisis? In a Time magazine
special issue, one could read a list of the 25 most “blameworthy” indi-
viduals, including politicians such as former presidents George W. Bush
and Bill Clinton as well as figures in the world of finance such as former
chairman of the Federal Reserve Alan Greenspan and now-famous swin-
dler Bernie Madoff. You could even vote in a poll entitled “Who deserves
the most blame?”1
Who was to blame for the September 11 attacks on the US? President
George W. Bush initially suggested “evil” was responsible.2 Religious
leader Jerry Falwell was more specific, stating that feminists, Pro-Choice
supporters, gays and lesbians and the ACLU each bore some responsibil-
ity.3 And a few individuals, such as writer Susan Sontag, took the position
that Americans themselves were partially to blame, for which she was
roundly vilified.4
Who is to blame for the latest spate of mass shootings? The NRA and
other gun rights advocates suggest that the mental health system is
responsible for not identifying “at risk” individuals; hence the slogan
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 1
G. Sahar, Blame and Political Attitudes, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-20236-0_1