Jacob R. Straus, Raymond T. Williams, Colleen J. Shogan and Matthew E. Glassman
The purpose of this paper is to understand why some Senators choose to use Twitter more frequently than others. Building on past research, which explored causal factors leading to…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to understand why some Senators choose to use Twitter more frequently than others. Building on past research, which explored causal factors leading to early congressional adoption, theories about why some Senators use Twitter more frequently in their daily communications strategies are developed.
Design/methodology/approach
A “power user” score was developed by evaluating each Senator’s clout, interactivity, and originality on Twitter. These scores are then used as the dependent variable in a regression model to evaluate which factors influence Senators becoming Twitter “power users.”
Findings
The study found that: constituent income is positively correlated with heavy use, but constituent education level is not; the more ideological a Senator is the more he or she will be a Twitter power user; the number of days on Twitter is a significant indicator of advanced Twitter usage; and having staff dedicated to social media is positively correlated with being a Twitter power user.
Research limitations/implications
All Senators in the second session of the 113th Congress (2014) were evaluated. As such, future research hope to expand the data set to additional Senators or the House of Representatives.
Practical implications
A better understanding of why some Senators use Twitter more than others allows insight into constituent communications strategies and the potential implications of real-time communication on representation, and the role of accountability between a Senator and his or her constituents.
Originality/value
The study examines constituent communication by Senators in a new, more interactive medium than previously considered. Additionally, the study places findings about Senator’s constituent communication in the broader context of representation.
Details
Keywords
The purpose of this paper is to understand why some US Senators have more low-quality followers than others and the potential impact of low-quality followers on understanding…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to understand why some US Senators have more low-quality followers than others and the potential impact of low-quality followers on understanding constituent preferences.
Design/methodology/approach
For each US Senator, data on Twitter followers was matched with demographic characteristics proven to influence behavior. An OLS regression model evaluated why some Senators attract more low-quality followers than others. Then, observations on the impact of low-quality followers were discussed along with potential effects on information gathering and constituent representation.
Findings
This study finds that total followers, ideology and length of time on Twitter are all significant predictors of whether a Senator might attract low-quality followers. Low-quality followers can have wide-ranging implications on Senator’s use of social media data to represent constituents and develop public policy.
Research limitations/implications
The data set only includes Senators from the 115th Congress (2017–2018). As such, future research could expand the data to include additional Senators or members of the House of Representatives.
Practical implications
Information is essential in any decision-making environment, including legislatures. Understanding why some users, particularly public opinion leaders, attract more low-quality social media followers could help decision-makers better understand where information is coming from and how they might choose to evaluates its content.
Social implications
This study finds two practical implications for public opinion leaders, including Senators. First, accounts must be actively monitored to identify and weed-out low-quality followers. Second, users need to be wary of disinformation and misinformation and they need to develop strategies to identify and eliminate it from the collection of follower preferences.
Originality/value
This study uses a unique data set to understand why some Senators have more low-quality followers than others and the impact on information gathering. Other previous studies have not addressed this issue in the context of governmental decision-making or constituent representation.
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A collection of essays by a social economist seeking to balanceeconomics as a science of means with the values deemed necessary toman′s finding the good life and society enduring…
Abstract
A collection of essays by a social economist seeking to balance economics as a science of means with the values deemed necessary to man′s finding the good life and society enduring as a civilized instrumentality. Looks for authority to great men of the past and to today′s moral philosopher: man is an ethical animal. The 13 essays are: 1. Evolutionary Economics: The End of It All? which challenges the view that Darwinism destroyed belief in a universe of purpose and design; 2. Schmoller′s Political Economy: Its Psychic, Moral and Legal Foundations, which centres on the belief that time‐honoured ethical values prevail in an economy formed by ties of common sentiment, ideas, customs and laws; 3. Adam Smith by Gustav von Schmoller – Schmoller rejects Smith′s natural law and sees him as simply spreading the message of Calvinism; 4. Pierre‐Joseph Proudhon, Socialist – Karl Marx, Communist: A Comparison; 5. Marxism and the Instauration of Man, which raises the question for Marx: is the flowering of the new man in Communist society the ultimate end to the dialectical movement of history?; 6. Ethical Progress and Economic Growth in Western Civilization; 7. Ethical Principles in American Society: An Appraisal; 8. The Ugent Need for a Consensus on Moral Values, which focuses on the real dangers inherent in there being no consensus on moral values; 9. Human Resources and the Good Society – man is not to be treated as an economic resource; man′s moral and material wellbeing is the goal; 10. The Social Economist on the Modern Dilemma: Ethical Dwarfs and Nuclear Giants, which argues that it is imperative to distinguish good from evil and to act accordingly: existentialism, situation ethics and evolutionary ethics savour of nihilism; 11. Ethical Principles: The Economist′s Quandary, which is the difficulty of balancing the claims of disinterested science and of the urge to better the human condition; 12. The Role of Government in the Advancement of Cultural Values, which discusses censorship and the funding of art against the background of the US Helms Amendment; 13. Man at the Crossroads draws earlier themes together; the author makes the case for rejecting determinism and the “operant conditioning” of the Skinner school in favour of the moral progress of autonomous man through adherence to traditional ethical values.
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Cristiano Codagnone, Athina Karatzogianni and Jacob Matthews
To explain the persistent abhorrent perspective society holds of sex offenders, the concept of sex offenders, the evolution of salient sex offender legislation, and the…
Abstract
To explain the persistent abhorrent perspective society holds of sex offenders, the concept of sex offenders, the evolution of salient sex offender legislation, and the relationships between sex offenders and social control with a focus on the current and emerging socio-legal issues are discussed. As one of the most vilified criminal offenders, sex offenders are inextricably related to social control as demonstrated by the disproportionately imposed legal restrictions they have experienced compared to offenders without a history of sex crimes. Public support of excessive punishments toward sex offenders has been bolstered by societal depictions that have induced perceptions of sex offenders as monstrous beings.
Aversions toward sex offenders unfold when it is perceived that the solidarity of society is dissolute and volatile. During these periods of perceived social disintegration, mass media emerges as a source that can contextualize the depraved actions of sex offenders, though the media have arguably perverted their role as an educator and contributed to misinformation. Education and revised evaluative assessments of sexual recidivism are suggested as approaches to redefine how sex offenders should be portrayed, as a heterogeneous group of individuals that vary in their amenability to rehabilitative treatment.