Dept. Political Science Univ. of Kentucky

Mark Peffley I received my Ph.D from the University of Minnesota in 1984. My research area is public opinion and political psychology, mostly in the U.S. but also in a comparative context. I study policy attitudes, media effects, racial attitudes and political tolerance. My current research involves three projects: 1) I use survey experiments to study the complex way that racial attitudes influence public support for ostensibly "race-neutral" policies like welfare and crime, with Jon Hurwitz. We are finishing a book manuscript, "Racial Polarization on Criminal Justice Issues," that compares Whites' and Blacks' views of the fairness of the criminal justice system, based on a national survey funded by the NSF. 2) I examine how changing threats to Israeli security over time influence citizens' support for the civil liberties of offensive domestic groups, with Michal Shamir and Marc Hutchison. 3) I am also exploring the impact of news coverage of welfare policy to explain why welfare reform in the late 1990s failed to improve public support for welfare. My research has appeared in American Political Science Review, American Journal of Political Science, Journal of Politics, International Studies Quarterly, American Politics Quarterly, Political Behavior, Political Communications, Political Research Quarterly and Public Opinion Quarterly. I coauthored and edited, Perception and Prejudice: Race and Politics in the U.S. (Yale University Press), and I'm co-editor of the journal, Political Behavior, with Jon Hurwitz. Areas of Specialization: Public opinion, mass media, racial attitudes and political tolerance Recent Publications (see my Research Page) "Persuasion and Resistance: Race and the Death Penalty in America," (with Jon Hurwitz). American Journal of Political Science, 2007. "Explaining the Great Racial Divide: Perceptions of Fairness in the U.S. Criminal Justice System," (with Jon Hurwitz). Journal of Politics, 2005. "Playing the Race Card in the Post Willie Horton Era: The Impact of Racialized Code Words on Support for Punitive Crime Policy,"” (with Jon Hurwitz). Public Opinion Quarterly, 2005. "Democratization and Political Tolerance in Seventeen Countries: A Multi-level Model of Democratic Learning,” (with Robert Rohrschneider). Political Research Quarterly, 56(3), 2003. Current Courses (Spring 2008) PS 474G--Political Psychology Previous Syllabi PS 681, American Political Behavior PS 711--009, Public Opinion and Political Communication PS 473G -- Public Opinion PS 475G -- Politics and the Mass Media PS 491--005, Political and Racial Tolerance PS 271-002-Political Behavior (Spring 2002) Contact Info 1653 Patterson Office Tower mpeffl@uky.edu Phone 859 257-7033 Fax 859 257-7034