Support for Torture: Some Ideational Predictors
Year: 2011
Type: preprint
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Few recent conundrums have weighed as heavily as have decisions on the use of torture in pursuit of foreign policy goals, a dilemma particularly salient in the context of the Global War on Terror and the revelations about Abu Ghraib. In this paper, we investigate whether and to what extent a person’s endorsement of torture as a form of punishment (for terrorists) is linked to two more general ideational dispositions: (1) placing high value on individual deference and submissiveness to the existing social order, and, (2) a readiness to stratify people more generally into those of greater and lesser intrinsic value. Since the psychological dispositions that predict support for torture might depend on the reasons one articulates for the stance one adopts, we examine how this backing may differ when torture is cast in retributive, instrumental, and moral terms. Using a unique nationally, representative dataset, we find support for our hypotheses.
Source: SSRN Electronic Journal
Authors: Jennifer M. Ramos, Miroslav Nincic
Institutions: Loyola Marymount University, University of California, Davis
Language: English
Topic: Torture, Ethics, and Law
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2273002817