Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1978

Publication Title

American Political Science Review

Abstract

This study empirically tests three theoretical approaches to explaining specific support for a policy output among members of its target group. The utilitarian model posits support as a function of objective costs and benefits to the individual stemming directly from the policy. The attitudinal model relates specific support to diffuse predispositions rooted in socialization. The perceptual model holds that specific support derives from beliefs about the character of the political decision process by which the policy was formulated. Tests of these three approaches are based on survey data on specific support for school district desegregation plans among a large sample of black and white parents of public school children in Florida. In both subsamples, the utilitarian approach explained very little of the variance in support, but the attitudinal and perceptual models were corroborated. Implications of these findings are drawn for desegregation policy making and for public policy theory.

Original Citation

Gatlin, D.S., M.W. Giles, and Everett F. Cataldo. 1978. "Policy Support Within a Target Group: The Case of School Desegregation." American Political Science Review 72: 985-995.

DOI

10.2307/1955116

Version

Publisher's PDF

Volume

72

Issue

3

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