Doctoral Dissertation Research: Collective Validation in Multi-Actor Task Settings: Extending the Berger et al. Theory of Legitimation

University Of Iowa, Iowa City IA

Investigators

Abstract

This project extends a theory of processes leading to the establishment of legitimate authority structures; that is, those in which members consider it right and proper to obey the people giving orders. One aspect of that theory is the idea of "collective validation," meaning that both actors and observers note compliant or noncompliant behavior by group members, and on the basis of their observations, impute legitimacy or not to the actors' authority. The theoretical basis of this work is to specify conditions under which collective validation becomes more or less likely to occur. Most simply, the condition to be tested involves the status relations of actors and observers. Experimental tests supported by this award will assess derivations from the extended theory. Results will be used to continue theoretical development, and the experimental techniques developed under this award will be used as the foundation for a future research program.