37. Public Opinion

Stephen P. Nicholson, University of California, Merced, snicholson@ucmerced.edu

In keeping with the theme of the 2008 program, I encourage submissions that speak to questions of categories and inequality. Categorizing ideas, people, institutions, and nations is central to the study of public opinion. Important research in public opinion and political participation has sought to explain the origins of categories (e.g., social identity, stereotypes) as well as their consequences, especially social, economic, and political inequality. Proposals addressing the origins of categories, especially the roles played by political elites and political discussion in the formation and transformation of categories, are especially welcome. Proposals addressing the relationships between categories and inequality, such as the representation and participation of out-groups, and the implications of inequality on the formation of categories, are also encouraged. 

Of course, I also welcome proposals on other important questions in the study of public opinion and participation. Among other topics, research investigating attitudes toward elites in positions of power, citizen competence, electoral polarization, and the role of heuristics and cognitive shortcuts in opinion formation are also of interest. In general, I encourage proposals that offer theoretically informed research.