Published by De Gruyter

Volume 17 Issue 1

April 2019

Issue of The Forum

Contents
Journal Overview

Publicly Available June 28, 2019

Frontmatter

Page range: i-iv

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June 28, 2019

Articles

June 28, 2019

The Evolution of Morality Policy Debate: Moralization and Demoralization

Rebecca J. Kreitzer, Kellen A. Kane, Christopher Z. Mooney

Page range: 3-24

Abstract

Scholars of morality policy have built an extensive literature surrounding these issues, which often are associated with unusual political behavior. Early studies aimed at explaining this behavior but avoided defining a “morality policy” explicitly, typically by focusing on issues that appeared obviously to pertain to morality, like abortion and LGBTQ+ rights. Drawing on the existing morality policy scholarship and classic theories of public policy, we argue that no public policy is inherently moral. Rather, policies may be “moralized” or “demoralized” over time, not due to any intrinsic characteristic, but because the prominent policy frames in their debate have changed. Public opinion and its proxies, along with certain exogenous shocks, may be important in determining when a morality frame will be more prevalent. Because the distinctiveness of morality policy lies in the discourse surrounding it, scholars should examine the behavior and attitudes of relevant advocates in these debates, rather than relying on aggregate data and making assumptions about intrinsic policy characteristics.

Publicly Available June 28, 2019

The Transformation of the Christian Right’s Moral Politics

Andrew R. Lewis

Page range: 25-44

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Abstract

For at least the past four decades, the Christian Right’s political advocacy has epitomized morality politics in the US. In recent years, however, the Christian Right has transformed how it approaches various moral and cultural issues, appealing to the language and process of political rights. This reframing of cultural concerns has coincided with the declining cultural status of conservative Christianity. This article analyzes three issue areas—abortion, free speech, and religious freedom—documenting how conservative Christianity has altered its approach to public politics, coming to embrace individual rights language and arguments over and above common morality. The article also analyzes the whether this growing rights talk has contributed to extending support to the rights of others, finding mixed results. As conservative Christians have embraced the rights commitment for themselves, there has been a corresponding growth of political tolerance for others. At the same time, there remain prominent challenges to supporting pluralistic politics. While questions about the commitment to pluralism remain, the evolution of the Christian Right’s cultural style of politics has important implications, as the last vestige of communitarian politics routinely engages politics using the language of liberalism. Moral politics are now routinely rights politics.

June 28, 2019

The Past and Present (and Future?) Politics of Religious Liberty

Andrew R. Murphy

Page range: 45-67

June 28, 2019

Moral Conviction and Immigration Attitudes in America

Maura McDonald, Timothy J. Ryan

Page range: 69-95

Abstract

Past work finds that political attitudes vary in the extent to which they are held with moral conviction – a distinctive facet of attitude intensity associated with animosity toward political opponents and resistance to compromise. We examine moral conviction as it arises on a timely political issue: immigration. Our approach is distinctive in that we measure attitudes about immigration in general, but also several subcomponents of the issue (e.g. attitudes toward building a border wall and making English the official language of the US). We find that attention to moral conviction reveals a face of public opinion that other measures do not. Opinions on the conservative side of immigration topics tend to be more strongly held and more consistent across issues. But those with opinions on the liberal side of the issue exhibit greater moral conviction, suggesting that they might be easier to mobilize and more resistant to compromise. We also assess the extent to which morally convicted attitudes can be traced to specific values and aspects of socialization.

June 28, 2019

Legislating Morality in the US Congress…or Not: Religion, Polarization, and the Next Wave of Culture

Elizabeth A. Oldmixon

Page range: 97-119

Abstract

Americans routinely petition their legislators for moral redress, drawing the US Congress into cultural debates about who we are as a people and what behaviors and social relationships are compatible with that shared identity. By engaging moral issues, Congress affirms one set of values over another, and legislative behavior is informed by cultural proxies such as religion, ideology, and partisanship. The institution falls short, however, when it comes to crafting lasting, comprehensive policy outputs in this domain. This is because moral issues do not lend themselves to compromise, whereas Congress is structured to seek compromise. The difficulties are exacerbated by party polarization driven by religious and ideological sorting. The upshot is that policymakers are often unable to build the broad coalitions necessary provide policy solutions. Assuming institutional arrangements and levels of polarization remain intact, and barring massive shifts in public opinion or developments in the courts, gridlock on moral issues will likely be the norm.

June 28, 2019

Generational Change? The Effects of Family, Age, and Time on Moral Foundations

Amanda Friesen

Page range: 121-140

Abstract

One way to uncover the persistent role of religion across generations is to look past traditional understandings of religious belief and denominational belonging and examine the presence of bedrock principles that could influence political beliefs in families. The Moral Foundations framework was developed for this purpose – to describe human behavior and attitudes in the moral realm without relying upon country, culture, or time specific labels. In an original and rare three-generation dataset, college students, their parents, and their grandparents were asked about political attitudes and preferences for the Moral Foundations of Harm/Care, Fairness/Reciprocity, Ingroup/Loyalty, Authority/Respect, and Purity/Sanctity. The Foundations are not equally shared across generations as preferences for each Foundation increase with the age of the cohorts in this sample, with especially large differences on Authority and Purity. A follow-up survey reveals that Moral Foundations may not be stable across even short periods of time. These findings suggest that the political appeals that may work on older Americans may be less effective on the younger generations. If individuals indeed make moral decisions based on these types of bedrock principles, understanding which of these principles or Foundations drive particular age groups can help us better understand shifts in public opinion.

June 28, 2019

Change, Continuity and Partisan Sorting on Moral Issues

Joshua Ridenour, Elizabeth Schmitt, Barbara Norrander

Page range: 141-157

Abstract

Is public opinion on moral issues basically stable or does it change over time? Evidence from the late 20th century indicated contrary patterns for public opinion on abortion, where attitudes were mostly stable, versus views toward gay rights, where public opinion was moving quickly in the liberal direction. This article examines whether public opinion trends on abortion and gay rights from the 20th century remain the same at the beginning of the 21st century. Second, we explore whether change or continuity better describes public attitudes on a host of moral issues. Finally, we investigate the contribution of partisan sorting to contemporary attitudes on moral issues.

June 28, 2019

Morality Politics and New Research on Transgender Politics and Public Policy

Donald Haider-Markel, Jami Taylor, Andrew Flores, Daniel Lewis, Patrick Miller, Barry Tadlock

Page range: 159-181

Abstract

Recent political debate over transgender military service and gendered bathroom use highlights a dramatic increase in salience over transgender issues in the US. In this essay, we examine a potential new front in the culture wars by reviewing recent empirical research in social science on the politics of transgender rights in the context of morality politics. Research on morality politics has often focused on LGBT rights, with an emphasis on gay and lesbian rights and little attention to transgender issues. We highlight the progress of research on transgender issues in the US, focusing on the study of attitudes about transgender people and rights, transgender rights in states and localities, and broader findings affecting transgender populations. Although there is ample research still needed, the current state of empirical social science on transgender issues has made great advancements in the past decade and shows that morality continues to shape LGBT politics and policy.

Book reviews

June 28, 2019

Review of Darkness Now Visible: Patriarchy’s Resurgence and Feminist Resistance

Sara Rushing

Page range: 183-186

June 28, 2019

Review of The Misinformation Age: How False Beliefs Spread

Morgan Marietta

Page range: 187-192

About this journal

Objective
This journal provides a forum for professionally informed commentary on issues affecting contemporary American politics. This includes but is not limited to issues engaging parties, elections, and political participation; the news media, interest groups, Congress, the Presidency, and the Courts; trends in public finance, presidential popularity, congressional productivity; in contemporary, historical, or comparative perspective.

The journal is motivated by the view that social scientists, historians, and legal scholars frequently have important insights into the concerns that arise in contemporary politics and government, drawing upon the disciplinary knowledge at their command. Yet they frequently lack a publishing outlet willing to print the analytic reasoning that gives weight to the resulting commentary. The Forum is designed to fill this gap.

We contemplate a journal free of fixed position and requiring no particular verdict with respect to policies, institutions, or processes. Well-reasoned discussion, disciplined by reference to established bodies of knowledge or aimed at stimulating the creation of such knowledge, is the goal of this journal.

What scholars are saying about The Forum

Over recent years I have seen the wealth of articles available through this electronic journal and consider it a valuable resource both for my own research and for keeping in touch with the field generally.

James F. Guyot, Professor, School of Public Affairs, Baruch College, CUNY

This is a major new initiative in electronic publishing, featuring contributions by some of the best U.S. and international scholars of political science and public policy.

Joe Atkinson, Senior Lecturer and Research Director, Political Science, University of Auckland 　

Its editors have succeeded in attracting knowledgeable and articulate scholars as authors of articles that deal with important issues in a manner that will appeal to a wide range of college educated readers.

Christian Soe, Professor Emeritus, California State University, Long Beach

This electronic journal consistently provides high level cutting edge research which is extremely timely and cogent with respect to the topics which are important to my research and teaching. Anyone in the field of American government and politics would benefit from the most current issue of The Forum for example.

John Jackson, Professor, Southern Illinois University Carbondale 　

This publication is increasingly becoming a "must have" for study of American government.

Melvin J. Dubnick, Professor, University of New Hampshire

Topics

American politics
Political parties
Elections and political participation
The news media
Interest groups
Congress and the Presidency
Courts
Trends in public finance
American foreign policy

Article formats
Texts longer than newspaper columns but shorter than orthodox journal articles

Information on submission process

Volume 17 Issue 1

Issue of The Forum

Frontmatter

Introduction – Spring

The Evolution of Morality Policy Debate: Moralization and Demoralization

Abstract

The Transformation of the Christian Right’s Moral Politics

Abstract

The Past and Present (and Future?) Politics of Religious Liberty

Moral Conviction and Immigration Attitudes in America

Abstract

Legislating Morality in the US Congress…or Not: Religion, Polarization, and the Next Wave of Culture

Abstract

Generational Change? The Effects of Family, Age, and Time on Moral Foundations

Abstract

Change, Continuity and Partisan Sorting on Moral Issues

Abstract

Morality Politics and New Research on Transgender Politics and Public Policy

Abstract

Review of Darkness Now Visible: Patriarchy’s Resurgence and Feminist Resistance

Review of The Misinformation Age: How False Beliefs Spread